As President Joe Biden makes a final argument for his foreign policy legacy on Monday, his new successor’s national security team has begun signaling plans to shed non-political career appointees on the Council National Security Agency (NSC) as they prepare to staff the agency with their own hand-picked selections.
The new administration has begun questioning some career officials delegated to Biden’s NSC about their loyalties, including who they voted for in last year’s election and insight into their political contributions, according to several U.S. officials .
Typically, career civil servants are assigned for two years to the NSC from other government agencies, including the State Department, Pentagon and intelligence agencies, to provide expert advice to the White House. Biden, who will deliver a wrap-up speech on foreign policy at the State Department on Monday, has relied on these career officials to manage a series of global hotspots.
The military is normally reappointed when administrations change, providing some degree of continuity in areas of ongoing national security concern, including ongoing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. They work alongside political figures selected by the new president.
Yet many career officials currently on Biden’s NSC now believe they will be asked to return to their original agencies soon after Trump takes power next week.
Trump’s new national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said the Trump team plans to return current appointees to their original agencies in favor of people they selected themselves, aiming to provide at the NSC of people who support the Trump agenda.
He said in an interview with Breitbart last week that the Trump team had already identified the names of people it wanted to put on the NSC once Trump took office.
“Everyone is going to resign at 12:01 a.m. on January 20,” Waltz said. “We are working on our process to get everyone their approvals and the transition process now.”
But efforts to determine the loyalties of current non-political staffers have intensified in recent days, including asking questions about voting history and social media posts, according to the U.S. official. Those interviewed include subject matter experts responsible for coordinating the Biden administration’s approach to various global issues.
As Biden prepares to abandon two global conflicts, with a number of other flashpoints in turmoil, major changes in NSC personnel could create a new layer of uncertainty for the new administration.
“I don’t know what he’s actually going to do, so I’ll reserve comment until I see,” Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday on “The State of the Union” from CNN, when asked about potential changes.