160 national security personnel sent home as White House aligns team with Trump agenda

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s national security adviser has removed about 160 people. National Security Council aides, sending them home while the administration reviews the staff and tries to align them with Trump’s agenda, administration officials told The Associated Press.

Career government employees, commonly known as “secondees”, were summoned to an all-staff call on Wednesday and told they would have to be at the disposal of the council’s senior directors but would not have no need to show up at the White House. The council provides national security and foreign policy advice to the president.

Trump, a Republican, sidelines these apolitical experts on topics ranging from counterterrorism to global climate policy, at a time when the United States faces a disparate set of complex foreign policy issues, including conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Such structuring could make new policy experts recruited to the NSC less likely to speak out on policy differences and concerns.

Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, had signaled before Inauguration Day that he would seek to return officials who worked on the council during President Joe Biden’s administration to their original agencies. This was intended to ensure that the board was made up of people who support Trump’s goals.

At the end of the review, Waltz will seek to have a “more efficient and flatter” NSC, an official said. Officials declined to comment on the final number of staffers — non-political people as well as political appointees — that Trump and Waltz would like to see on the board once the review is complete.

Officials said they have already begun bringing in representatives from agencies with expertise the new administration values, including some who served under the first Trump administration.

Some directors have taken the decision to inform those affected that they will be returned to their original agency. For example, several people assigned to the counterterrorism directorate were informed Tuesday that their missions were being interrupted, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

At least a few people sent home Wednesday had their White House emails deactivated shortly after the call ended, but they were asked to remain reachable on their personal cell phones. They are unlikely to be assigned any substantive work during the exam.

Waltz “promised and authorized a comprehensive review of NSC personnel,” board spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement. “It is entirely appropriate for Mr. Waltz to ensure that the NSC staff is committed to implementing President Trump’s America First agenda to protect our national security and to use taxpayer dollars wisely for workers and citizens. American workers. As of Monday 12:01 p.m., personnel reviews and decisions based on evaluations are underway.

The dozens of personnel affected by the decision are largely subject matter experts from the State Department, FBI and CIA on temporary duty that typically lasts one to two years.

New top Trump administration officials this month also had questioned some career civil servants on which 2024 candidate they voted for, their political contributions and whether they made social media posts that could be considered incriminating by Trump’s team, a person familiar with the matter told the AP . This person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive personnel issue.

Waltz, in a recent interview with Breitbart News, said he wants the NSC to be staffed “100 percent aligned with the president’s agenda.”

The NSC was launched as an arm of the White House during the Truman administration. He was responsible for advising and assisting the president on national security and foreign policy matters and coordinating the various government agencies. It is common for experts assigned to the NSC to move from one administration to another, even when the White House changes parties.

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, has advocated for the incoming Trump administration to retain career government employees assigned to the NSC, at least initially. He called the career appointees “patriots” who served “without fear or favor for both Democratic and Republican administrations.”

Trump, during his first term, was scarred when two career military officers assigned to the NSC became whistleblowers, raising concerns about Trump’s call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2019 in which Trump called for an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter. This episode led to Trump’s first impeachment.

Alexander Vindman was listening to the call in his role as NSC official when he was alarmed by what he heard. He contacted his twin brother, Eugene, who was an ethics attorney at the NSC at the time. Both Vindmans raised their concerns with their superiors.