The Trump administration dismissed an unspecified number of National Security Council (NSC) staffers on Friday, The Washington Post reported, as part of a vast restructuring orchestrated by President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The sweeping changes aim to significantly reduce the NSC’s size, transfer many of its powers to the State and Defense departments, and target what the administration views as entrenched bureaucracy.
The White House reportedly sees the NSC as notoriously bureaucratic and staffed by longtime officials who do not align with the president’s vision. A White House official involved in the planning described the reorganization as Trump and Rubio’s latest offensive against Washington’s “Deep State.”
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“The NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It’s Marco vs. the Deep State. We’re gutting the Deep State,” the official told Axios, indicating the move will cut the NSC staff to about half of its current 350 members. Officials stated that those removed from the NSC would be reassigned to other government positions.
In a statement to Axios, Secretary Rubio, who recently became acting National Security Advisor, commented, “The right-sizing of the NSC is in line with its original purpose and the president’s vision. The NSC will now be better positioned to collaborate with agencies.”
The dismissals reported by The Washington Post on Friday include both career officials and political appointees. The exact number of individuals affected remains unclear.
Streamlining a Bloated Structure
White House officials have criticized the NSC’s existing structure, pointing to a complex web of committees and meetings—such as “sub-PCCs” (advisory to Policy Coordination Committees), which feed “DCs” (Deputies Committee), which in turn advise the “PC” (Principals Committee of Cabinet secretaries)—that they argue slow decision-making and generate excessive jargon.
“That’s the bottom-to-the-top approach that doesn’t work. It’s going away,” a senior White House official stated. “All those things feeding up to principals are the unnecessary piece.” Another senior official emphasized the NSC’s refined focus would be to “coordinate and advise — not carry out — policy.”
Supporters of the NSC’s traditional system have argued it promotes healthy debate and thorough policy discussion. However, a senior Trump administration official suggested such bureaucracy might have been necessary for past presidents dealing with inter-agency conflicts, but not for Trump’s current team.
“If you have officials fighting each other and their agencies always involved in turf wars, you maybe need this process,” the official said. “That’s not what you have here. Rubio, [Treasury Secretary Scott] Bessent, [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth, [Attorney General Pam] Bondi — all of them know each other and like each other, and they know they’re there to execute the president’s will.”
Administration officials cited President Trump’s recent call to eliminate sanctions against Syria. Following the announcement, a White House official said Defense Secretary Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Bessent, and Secretary Rubio instructed their deputies to implement Trump’s orders, with Attorney General Bondi’s department, which had classified Syria’s leader as a terrorist, also complying. “It was complete reverse workflow: Here’s what the president wants, get it done,” the official explained to Axios.
Ongoing Personnel Changes
Friday’s dismissals are the latest in a series of personnel changes across various government departments since President Trump’s second administration began in January. Secretary Rubio took over as acting National Security Advisor after former advisor Mike Waltz departed the role.
Waltz has since been nominated by President Trump to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, following the “Signalgate” controversy and reports from Axios that Waltz had faced challenges in his relationships with other White House staff.
This also follows earlier NSC staff reductions in April, which reportedly occurred after activist Laura Loomer presented the president with research alleging disloyalty among certain NSC members.
Following those April terminations, President Trump told reporters, “We’re always going to let go of people – people we don’t like or people that take advantage of or people that may have loyalties to someone else.”
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