Posted on 01/01/2020 11:52:53 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
The White House National Security Council staff is being downsized sharply in a bid to improve efficiency within the policy coordinating body by consolidating positions and cutting staff.
A second, unspoken thrust of the overhaul is a hoped-for end to what many critics see as a string of politically damaging, unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information. Leaks of President Trump’s conversations with foreign leaders and other damaging disclosures likely originated with anti-Trump officials in the White House who stayed over from the Obama administration, according to several current and former White House officials.
White House National Security Adviser Robert C. O’Brien is leading the NSC reform effort. He revealed in a recent interview with The Washington Times that 40 to 45 NSC staff officials were sent back in recent months to the agencies where they originally worked, with more likely to be moved out.
“We remain on track to meeting the right-sizing goal Ambassador O’Brien outlined in October, and in fact may exceed that target by drawing down even more positions,” said NSC spokesman John Ullyot.
Under President Obama, the NSC staff mushroomed to as many as 450 people. Mr. O’Brien plans to cut the staff to fewer than 120 policy officials by early next year.
The downsizing will be carried out by consolidating positions and returning officials to agencies and departments such as the CIA, the State and Defense departments and the military.
Mr. O’Brien noted that the NSC had a policymaking staff of 12 in 1962 when President Kennedy faced down the Soviet Union during the Cuban missile crisis. During the 2000s and the George W. Bush administration, the number of NSC staff members increased sharply to support the three-front conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terrorism.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
FINALLY!!!
Fire all of them. They are working for the other side.
Don’t move the left around inside government. Fire them. They will commit mischief no matter where they are shuffled to, so fire them.
Good start, but they should have been FIRED instead of moved!
Something has to be done with these ambassadors. It appeared to me as if they were promoting THEIR policies instead of the Presidents. Difficult to hear them undermine President Trump with assumed, presumed, etc etc
About time!! Anybody who can even pronounce Obama’s name should be immediately removed from the taxpayers funded payroll!!
FINALLY!!!
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No kidding.
That should have been by done January 23rd, 2017
By the end of March all the Obama people removed from all the rest of the Departments.
WHY did it take so long?
WHY has Trump not fired just about every obammy appointee including flag officers? There can only be a few that are trustworthy. The losses of those that may be trustworthy and competent are just minor collateral damage. We’ll get over it and be better off.
Downsizing the NSC was supposedly on the front burner in 2016. Now we are a few months from the end of the Trump’s first term and it isn’t done? What the heck happened?
I still remember the gloat/boast that worshipful media breathlessly reporting Obama had > 300 ‘advisors’, including the likes of Clooney, etc.
Amen to that...
It is incredibly difficult to fire or even rearrange people who work in government. I think We the People “lost” the day that government workers were allowed to unionize -— it set them up to be practically untouchable and working against us all the time. I suspect Trump came in thinking like a business man -— I’ll just fire them all. Well . . . Life for government workers isn’t structured that way. Should be -— but isn’t.
They should transition the Vindaman brothers from the NSC directly to GITMO. That would be a good first step.
McMaster and Bolton
Any and all holdovers should have been axed on Day One.
I believe a bloated NSC staff is evidence the person in the WH lacks self-confidence.
Another good move by President Trump.
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