After Mike Waltz Exit, Trump Slashes NSC Staff

On May 23, the Trump White House enacted a major overhaul of the National Security Council (NSC).

Since 1947, the NSC has been a key advisory body to the president and its influence over policy has expanded in recent decades. Now, its headcount will be cut by half, if not further. This will change the way US foreign policy is made.

These layoffs come just three weeks after President Trump removed Michael Waltz from the role of national security adviser and appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the position.

Despite its outsized power in Washington, the National Security Council is not well known to the general public, which is why the Institute for Global Affairs at Eurasia Group has been closely tracking personnel moves and how they translate into policy.

Many of the senior NSC staff profiled in IGA’s in-depth resource — Who’s Who on Trump’s National Security Council — have now been pushed out of their roles. Among those reported to be departing are Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Alex Wong, Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa Eric Trager, Senior Director for Europe Andrew Peek, as well as communications team members like Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Brian Hughes. Some of these staffers are likely to be reshuffled to other agencies.

In the place of Alex Wong, two White House officials will take on expanded portfolios. Vice President JD Vance’s national security adviser Andy Baker and White House deputy chief of staff Robert Gabriel have both been tapped as deputy national security advisers, according to CBS. Baker, who holds a doctorate in international relations from the University of Oxford, previously worked as an adviser in Vance’s Senate office. Gabriel worked as a White House speechwriter during Trump’s first term and is a former associate producer of The Ingraham Angle on Fox News.

Details are emerging on how the NSC will look after its makeover. “Some of the teams on the council that focus on specific regions or issues will be gutted, while others will be collapsed and folded into others. Still other teams will cease to exist,” The New York Times reported.

The staff of the NSC advises the president on matters of foreign policy and national security. They regularly brief the president, prepare him for meetings with foreign dignitaries, and coordinate national security policy across US government agencies. But Trump and his allies have been critical of the NSC’s processes, which they say are unnecessarily complex and privilege the opinions of career officials over the policy preferences of the president. Axios quoted a Trump official who said, “The NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It’s Marco vs. the Deep State. We’re gutting the Deep State.”

During Trump’s first term, four different national security advisers (and two acting ones) served in the White House. Former national security advisers H.R. McMaster and John Bolton have openly criticized the president. Allegations made by a NSC whistleblower set off Trump’s first impeachment hearings. 

This isn’t the first time Trump took aim at the NSC. During the Obama administration, the NSC had 222 policy staffers; by the end of Trump’s first term, that number had been reduced to 110.  

It’s not yet clear whether this is the start of a bigger transformation. The IGA will continue to monitor the situation and update the website as new developments unfold.

Stay tuned for more.

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