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.
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.
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. “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.”
Trump, a Republican, is sidelining these nonpolitical 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.
Waltz had signaled before Inauguration Day that he would look to return holdover civil servants who worked in the council during President Joe Biden’s administration to their home agencies. That was meant to ensure the council is staffed by those who support Trump’s goals.
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 — whom Trump and Waltz would like to see as part of the council once the review is completed.
Officials said 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 made decisions to inform detailees they will be sent back to their home agencies. For example, multiple holdover detailees assigned to the counterterrorism directorate were told on Tuesday that their assignments were being cut short, according to two people familiar with the move who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
At least some holdover detailees sent home Wednesday had their White House emails turned off soon after the call ended, but were told to remain reachable on their personal cellphones. It is unlikely they will be assigned any substantive work during the review.
Waltz “promised and authorized a full review of NSC personnel,” 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 staff members affected by the decision are largely subject matter experts from the State Department, the FBI and the CIA on temporary duty that typically lasts one year to two years.
Incoming senior Trump administration officials this month also had questioned some career civil servants about which 2024 candidate they voted for, 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% aligned with the president’s agenda.”
The NSC was launched as an arm of the White House during the Truman administration. It was 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 case for the incoming Trump administration to hold over career government employees assigned to the NSC, at least through the early going. 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 Trump 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.