Over 150 US National Security Staffers Sent Home as White House Aligns its Team to Trump’s Agenda

Thu Jan 23 2025
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Key points

  • Council provides national security and foreign policy advice to president
  • Trump is sidelining non-political experts on counterterrorism, climate policy etc
  • Such structuring could make new policy experts less likely to speak up

 ISLAMABAD: President Donald Trump’s national security adviser on Wednesday sidelined about 160 National Security Council aides, sending them home while the administration reviews staffing and tries to align it with Trump’s agenda.

According to AP, the career government employees, commonly referred to as detailees, were summoned Wednesday for an all-staff call and told they will be expected to be available to the council’s senior directors but would not need to report to the White House. The council provides national security and foreign policy advice to the president.

Two-minute phone call

Brian McCormack, chief of staff to national security adviser Mike Waltz, delivered the news in a two-minute phone call, telling the detailees they “are directed to be on call and report to the office only if contacted by the NSC leadership.”

“As anyone who has had the privilege of working here in the White House knows, it’s a tremendous honor to support the executive office of the president and the presidency itself,” said McCormack, according to a recording of the call obtained by The Associated Press.

[The staffers] are directed to be on call and report to the office only if contacted by the NSC leadership.” – Brian McCormack, chief of staff to national security adviser Mike Waltz

“We also know that every president is entitled to have a staff and the advisers that they need to implement the goals that the American people elected him to pursue.”

Impact on future staffers 

Trump, a Republican, is sidelining these non-political experts on topics that range from counterterrorism to global climate policy at a time when the United States is dealing with a disparate set of complicated foreign policy matters, including conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Such structuring could make new policy experts brought in to the NSC less likely to speak up about policy differences and concerns, according to AP.

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