WASHINGTON ― A significant number of staff members of the White House National Security Council were dismissed from their positions on May 23 as the Trump administration carried out a major restructuring of the agency.
The firings, reported by the Washington Post, Reuters and other media outlets, came three weeks after President Donald Trump pushed out former national security adviser Mike Waltz and made Secretary of State Marco Rubio the interim head of the NSC.
Staffers who dealt with a wide rang of geopolitical issues received termination notices as part of an NSC restructuring, which is expected to grant more authority to the State and Defense departments.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
CNN reported more than 100 NSC employees received notices at about 4:20 p.m. ET, notifying them they were put on administrative leave and giving them 30 minutes to clean out their desks. The workers represented a sizable share of the overall NSC workforce, which grew to about 300 workers under President Joe Biden but had already been operating with less than half that figure under Trump.
Axios quoted an unnamed White House official who said, “The NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It’s Marco vs. the Deep State. We’re gutting the Deep State.”
The Trump administration has terminated tens of thousands of employees across the federal government, and forced out even more though voluntary buyouts, as part of the Department of Government Efficiency launched by Elon Musk.
The restructuring comes after Trump in April fired multiple senior NSC officials flagged by right-wing activist Laura Loomer as being disloyal to Trump during a White House visit. Loomer also raised concerns about Waltz, who Trump nominated as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations after Waltz resigned as national security adviser.
Contributing: Reuters.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump’s National Security Council slashed amid large-scale firings
