According to this, obama and his handlers fattened the NSC staff to possibly over 300-400 people and used it to micromanage the other real national security agencies in govt. No wonder we ended up with puffed up toads like that ambitious Army 0-5 Vindman, who postured himself to try to guide US foreign policy with Ukraine
Prior to obama, the Presidents focused on foreign enemy threats. Obama from 2009 began to set in place organizations to manage We the People and the GOP as domestic enemies of the progressive agenda...and saw the independent Trump as their major threat as early as 2015,
https://www.rollcall.com/2016/04/26/fight-looms-over-size-of-white-house-national-security-staff/
Funny. I suppose when he was removed they had to gingerly pick him at arms length to avoid ejected fluids.