WASHINGTON — (AP) — President Donald Trump's national security adviser has sidelined about 160 National Security Council staffers, telling them to work from home while the administration reviews staffing and tries to align it with Trump's agenda, administration officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The career government employees, commonly referred to as detailees, were summoned on Wednesday to an all-staff call in which they were told that they'll be expected to be available to the NSC's senior directors but would not need to report to the White House. The NSC, a White House arm, provides national security and foreign policy advice to the president.
Trump, a Republican, is sidelining these nonpolitical subject matter experts on topics that range from counterterrorism to global climate policy at a time when the U.S. is grappling 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.
Trump's national security adviser, Mike Waltz, had signaled before Inauguration Day that he would look to move holdover civil servants who worked in the NSC during President Joe Biden's administration back to their home agencies. That's meant to ensure the council is staffed by those who support Trump's agenda.
By the end of the review, Waltz will look to have a “more efficient, flatter” NSC, one official said. The officials declined to comment on the ultimate number of personnel — nonpolitical detailees as well as political appointees — that Trump and Waltz would like to see as part of the NSC once the review is completed.
Officials said that they have already begun bringing detailees from agencies with expertise that the new administration values, including some who had served during the first Trump administration.
Some directors have already made decisions to inform detailees they will be sent back to the federal agencies they were on loan from. For example, multiple holdover detailees assigned to counterterrorism directorate were told on Tuesday that their assignment was being cut short and that they will be sent back to their home agencies, according to two people familiar with the move who were not not authorized to comment publicly.
At least some holdover detailees sent home Wednesday had their White House emails turned off soon after the all-staff call ended, but they were told to remain reachable on their personal cellphones.
“National Security Advisor Mike Waltz promised and authorized a full review of NSC personnel,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement. “It is entirely appropriate for Mr. Waltz to ensure NSC personnel are committed to implementing President Trump’s America First agenda to protect our national security and wisely use the tax dollars of America’s working men and women. Since 12:01 pm on Monday personnel reviews and decisions based on the evaluations are being made.”
The dozens of NSC staff members affected by the decision are largely subject matter experts who had been loaned to the White House by federal agencies such as the State Department, the FBI and the CIA for temporary duty that typically lasts one to two years.
Incoming senior Trump administration officials this month also had questioned some career civil servants about who they voted for in the 2024 election, their political contributions and whether they have made social media posts that could be considered incriminating by Trump's team, a person familiar with the matter told the AP. That person spoke on the condition of the anonymity to discuss the sensitive personnel matter.
Waltz in a recent interview with Breitbart News said that he wanted the NSC to be staffed by personnel who are “100 percent aligned with the president’s agenda.”
The NSC was launched as an arm of the White House during the Truman administration, tasked with advising and assisting the president on national security and foreign policy and coordinating among various government agencies. It is common for experts detailed to the NSC to carry over from one administration to the next, even when the White House changes parties.
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, made a robust case for the incoming Trump administration to hold over career government employees assigned to the NSC at least through the early going of the new administration. He called the career appointees “patriots” who have served “without fear or favor for both Democratic and Republican administrations.”
Trump, during his first term, was scarred when two career military officers detailed to the NSC became whistleblowers, raising their concerns about Trump's 2019 call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which the president sought an investigation of Biden and his son Hunter. That episode led to Trump's first impeachment.
Alexander Vindman was listening to the call in his role as an NSC official when he became alarmed at what he heard. He approached his twin brother, Eugene, who at the time was serving as an ethics lawyer at the NSC. Both Vindmans reported their concerns to superiors.
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