It is expected that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in his new complementary role of the National Security Advisor, significantly climb the size of the National Security Council and make a drastic change in how they works, they told NBC News, four people with direct knowledge of the plans.
The reduction of NSC staff would be partly designed to align more closely how it operates with the way President Donald Trump makes decisions, these people said. Instead of a great staff that generates policy recommendations for the president, the idea is to create a version in the Trump line prefers: More from top to bottom, with the president by directing the national security advisor who then carries out the staff to carry out those orders, two of the people said.
The NSC, which is due to the White House, is the central center to coordinate a policy process between government agencies to help the president make decisions about foreign policy and national security issues. The size of your staff, which can be up to several hundred, has changed under different presidents.
When Trump assumed the position, the NSC had 300 employees, which was reduced by half in January to approximately 150. The expected cuts could reduce the staff to 50-60, but a final decision has not been made, three of the people with direct knowledge of the plans said. Rubio does not plan to fire any staff, but it is expected that he will reasign of other agencies, according to a senior administration official with direct knowledge of Rubio’s decision -making.
“The Rubio Secretary is doing incredible work as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor of the White House,” said White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, in a statement to NBC News. “Under its leadership in the White House, the NSC team will simplify to guarantee maximum efficiency and coordination with external agencies.”
During his Middle East flight last weekend, Rubio discussed the structure of the NSC with Sergio Gor, the director of presidential staff of the White House who has administered the appointment of Trump’s staff.
Together with other White House officials, Gor and Rubio reviewed the data collected in the last three months about NSC staff and decided on a plan to significantly reduce the size of the personnel, people said with direct knowledge of the plans.
The data included spreadsheets of NSC staff, positions and salaries, as well as possible redundancies in which multiple employees perform similar tasks, said one of these people.
Mike Waltz, who Trump eliminated as national security advisor earlier this month, had directed the NSC in what two of the people with direct knowledge of the planned changes called a “traditional” style that reflected the way in which the then President Joe Biden directed the agency, and was not aligned with what Trump prefers.
Rubio also discussed some of the responsibilities of NSC personnel to other agencies, including the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency, one of the people with direct knowledge of the plans said. Currently, government agencies detail staff to work on the NSC, where they focus on specific national security or regions of the world and compile information to help inform the president’s decisions.
According to the new expected structure, individual government agencies would make their own recommendations to the National Security Advisor team, and if coordination is needed, an official of one of the agencies would have a point on the matter, according to one of the people with direct knowledge of the plans. The proposed plans to reduce the size of the agency when Trump dismissed some NSC officials in April, one day after meeting with the extreme right -right activist Laura Loule, who raised concerns about allegedly “unfair people” who work for the administration.
Rubio is expected to serve as a national security advisor for at least six months, according to Trump. The president could appoint a more permanent replacement at the end of summer, according to a source involved in the discussions.
Abigail Williams and Gordon Lubold contributed.
