Washington – President Donald Trump depends more and more on a small group of advisors for critical contributions, since they weigh whether to order US military action in Iran aimed at their nuclear program, according to two defense officials and a senior administration official.
At the same time, said another superior administration official, Trump has been Crowdsourcing with a series of allies outside the White House and in his administration about whether they believe that he should strike green light in Iran, a question that has divided its main followers.
Despite routinely asking a wider group of people, what they think should do, Trump tends to make many decisions with only a handful of administration officials, including vice president JD Vance, the head of General Staff of the White House, Susie Wiles, deputy director of Cabinete Stephen Miller and the Secretary of State Frame senior. Trump also relies on his middle Eastern envoy, Steve Witkoff, when they weigh the decisions that fall under his wallet, said the official.
As he decides whether to directly involve the United States in a war with Iran, Trump has expanded his circle in some way while reducing it in others. According to the two defense officials, the director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who opposes American attacks in Iran, and has not routinely resorted to the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, as part of his decision -making process, according to the two defense officials and the senior administration official.
The spokesman for the Department of Defense, Sean Parnell, backed up against the notion that Hegseth has not been very involved.
“This statement is completely false. The secretary is talking to the president several times a day every day and has been with the president in the situation room this week,” Parnell said in a statement. “Secretary Hegesh is providing the leadership that the Department of Defense and our Armed Forces need, and will continue to work diligently in support of the peace of President Trump through the Force Agenda.”
Trump is listening to General Dan Caine, president of the joint personnel leaders; Gen. Erik Kurilla, the commander of the United States Central Command; And the director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, said the two defense officials and a former administration official.
The White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told journalists on Thursday that Trump will decide whether the United States should get involved in Israel-Iran’s conflict in the next two weeks.
Unlike practically all the president before him since World War II, Trump does not trust senior officials to carefully prepare foreign policy and military options and then discuss them with him in a structured and deliberate way, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.
He discusses foreign policy with officials from his administration, as well as a myriad of foreign leaders and contacts outside the government. But those discussions are more informal and free. As a result, it could be said that there are fewer opportunities for officials or superior military commanders to question their assumptions or raise concerns about a course of action, the two sources said.
When Trump announced last month that he was raising sanctions against Syria after meeting with the Saudi heir Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the senior officials were taken by surprise, the two sources said with knowledge of the matter. The Treasury Department officials had no warning that he would make such an ad, and no technical preparations had been made to carry out a step that required discussions with foreign banks and Syrian government officials, sources said.
Since he returned to the White House in January, Trump has drastically reduced the National Security Council, which traditionally collaborates with other federal agencies to create policy options and describe its possible consequences, particularly when it comes to possible military actions.
