(Headline USA) 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’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.”
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.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
