President Donald Trump, working closely with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has begun a dramatic reorganization of the National Security Council (NSC). This sweeping move reduces the council\u2019s size by nearly half and shifts much of its decision-making power to other federal departments such as the State and Defense departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The effort follows Trump\u2019s removal of National Security Advisor Mike Waltz earlier this month. Waltz, who lost favor after a communications mishap involving a Signal chat and sensitive military discussions, has been nominated as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Rubio, already serving as Secretary of State, has taken on the NSC leadership role in the interim and is now the architect of this major transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A White House official summed up the strategy bluntly, telling Axios, \u201cThe NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It\u2019s Marco vs. the Deep State. We\u2019re gutting the Deep State.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of the NSC restructuring, more than 100 staff members were abruptly placed on administrative leave. Many were career officials detailed from other agencies like the Pentagon, State Department, or intelligence community. The change took place on a Friday afternoon, just before a holiday weekend. According to CNN, an email from NSC chief of staff Brian McCormack went out at 4:20 p.m. with the subject line \u201cYour return to home agency.\u201d Recipients were told they had 30 minutes to clean out their desks, or to make arrangements to return their devices later if they were off campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One administration official described the timing and method as \u201cas unprofessional and reckless as could possibly be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The staff shake-up affected not only career professionals but also political appointees from Trump\u2019s own first administration. As part of the reorganization, officials from the Office of Presidential Personnel had been re-interviewing NSC staffers in the weeks leading up to the purge. One source reported that among the questions asked was what size they believed the NSC should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A core reason behind the overhaul, according to Trump\u2019s team, is the belief that the NSC had grown too large and had become a barrier to fast, top-down decision-making. A senior White House official criticized the NSC\u2019s \u201cbottom-to-the-top\u201d structure. \u201cThere\u2019s a sub-PCC, which advises the PCC, which goes to the DC, which goes to the PC. That\u2019s the bottom-to-the-top approach that doesn\u2019t work. It\u2019s going away,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead of relying on committee meetings and layers of approvals, Trump wants policy decisions to come directly from the top and be implemented immediately. One example provided by an official was Trump\u2019s recent call to eliminate sanctions on Syria. After his announcement, Cabinet members Pete Hegseth, Scott Bessent, Marco Rubio, and Attorney General Pam Bondi each relayed the order down the chain with no delay. \u201cIt was complete reverse workflow,\u201d the official explained. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t, \u2018Let\u2019s get the sub-PCC to send it to the PCC to go to the DC to go to the PC.\u2019 It was, \u2018Here\u2019s what the president wants. Get it done.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the end of the overhaul, the NSC\u2019s staffing levels are expected to return to the size seen at the end of Trump\u2019s first term. That would be around 110 policy staffers. Some allies believe even that is too many. Former National Security Advisor Robert O\u2019Brien and his former chief of staff Alexander Gray published an op-ed suggesting the NSC policy staff should be reduced to just 60 people\u2014the same number President Dwight Eisenhower had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe NSC is not there as a think tank or shadow department,\u201d Gray said in an interview. \u201cIt is about coordinating and implementing work originated in the departments and then ensuring the president\u2019s decisions are implemented.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rubio echoed this approach in a statement to Axios, saying, \u201cThe right-sizing of the NSC is in line with its original purpose and the president\u2019s vision. The NSC will now be better positioned to collaborate with agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rubio\u2019s role in the administration has rapidly expanded. Along with his duties as Secretary of State, he is now acting National Security Advisor, acting archivist, and interim administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is also being dismantled. A senior official told Axios that Trump wants Rubio in the National Security Advisor role \u201cas long as possible.\u201d The official added, \u201cMarco is the one in charge and calling the shots.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two deputies have been appointed to support Rubio: Andy Baker, National Security Advisor to Vice President JD Vance, and Robert Gabriel, Assistant to the President for Policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This centralization of power around Rubio reflects a broader trend in the administration, where trusted allies and loyalists are taking on overlapping roles to move the president\u2019s agenda more directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite support from within the Trump camp, the NSC overhaul has alarmed many outside experts and former officials. Jonathan Finer, who served as Deputy National Security Advisor under President Biden, warned, \u201cThe NSC has been composed almost entirely of apolitical experts on every significant issue. That\u2019s an enormous national asset to just throw away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Philip Gordon, a former advisor to Kamala Harris and longtime national security official, questioned whether the administration would actually rely on the State Department for policy guidance. \u201cIf the president is going to run everything, he needs the type of staff to do it effectively,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other former NSC members argue that while bureaucracy may slow things down, it also ensures thorough consideration of complex issues. A former senior Trump staffer explained, \u201cThe NSC ensures that the president\u2019s policies are actually being implemented and that he\u2019s getting the best information possible. It\u2019s very hard to do that if you cut all the staff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not the first time Trump has moved to reduce the NSC. In his first term, staff numbers were brought down significantly, and many Obama-era officials were replaced. Now, Trump is going further. Some believe this is necessary to remove what they see as obstructive career officials. Others view it as a purge that risks national security in favor of political loyalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NP Editor: <\/strong> A slow deliberate move would not have worked, the Deep State is nothing if not resilient. These quick, bold moves are key to the Trump strategy, giving his foes no chance to adjust. The old saying, “This calls for a scalpel, not a hammer” must be be inverted – Trump needed and used the sledge hammer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Trump and Rubio Restructure the NSC President Donald Trump, working closely with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has begun a dramatic reorganization of the National Security Council (NSC). This sweeping move reduces the council\u2019s size by nearly half and shifts much of its decision-making power to other federal departments such as the State and Defense departments. The effort follows Trump\u2019s removal of National Security Advisor Mike Waltz earlier this month. Waltz, who lost favor after a communications mishap involving a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,21,22,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-democrats","category-threat-to-america","category-trump","category-woke-agenda"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/nscrubioasersd.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6116,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6115\/revisions\/6116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}