Cnn
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An important overhaul of the National Security Council of the White House is expected in the coming days, including a reduction in staff and a descending approach reinforced with decisions concentrated at the highest level, three senior officials of the Trump administration in CNN said.
Composed of dozens of foreign policy experts from the entire American government, the NSC generally serves as a critical organization to coordinate the president of the president in matters of foreign policy.
But under President Donald Trump, the role of the NSC has been reduced, the pending overhaul should further reduce its importance to the White House.
“The NSC, as we know, is done,” said an administration official.
The NSC did not respond to the request for CNN comments.
Several sources said they were planning that the upheaval of the National House of White House is taking place once Trump’s Middle East tour This week is over.
From the start of the Trump administration, the construction of the NSC was an arduous process due to strict history checks that prioritize Loyalty to Trump on everything else. And even after people were hired, many were quickly dismissed in a series of purges since Trump took office.
These days, there are few meetings that shape the president’s national security program, said an official. And for those who are still there, to keep their jobs, certain members of the current NSC staff are re -required by the presidential staff office, because the remodeling process remains fluid, three sources said.
More recently, the national security advisor Mike Waltz was ousted of his role and appointed as Trump ambassador to the United Nations. The changes occurred as president and his closest advisers, including the chief of staff of the White House, Susie Wiles, are increasingly frustrated by the way the NSC worked during the first months of Trump.
Skepticism towards the NSC has become even more pronounced after Waltz Inadvertently adding a journalist To a group of messaging applications discuss military strikes very sensitive to Yemen.
With Waltz who may have gone to New York to be Trump’s UN Ambassador, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was operated as a interim security advisor. Him and Steve Witkoff Special Envoy Already dominated Trump’s foreign policy program, with Waltz sometimes preceded, according to sources.
Rubio’s personal perspective on the way the NSC should work is not clear, but sources close to the White House say that keeping a small staff will be a necessity if Rubio wants to stay in the good graces of the inner circle of Trump.
“Trump’s white house influential actors believe that the NSC is a bureaucratic obstacle,” said a republican legislator who has had regular meetings with the NSC in recent months, noting that Rubio will have to follow the example of players such as the Chief of the White House, Stephen Miller and Sergio Gor, who heads the Personal Office of the White House.
The future of the deputy of Waltz, Alex Wong, is not clear. Several sources indicate that Wong should be expelled even if it continues to direct the NSC day by day, under Rubio.
However, Wong was an integral part of Trump’s commitments with North Korea during its first mandate, so other sources say that Trump can choose to keep it to some extent because of this experience.
NBC News reported The expected redesign of the NSC on Wednesday.
The redesign comes when the administration is faced with a wide range of foreign policy challenges, in particular by ending the war of Ukraine; conclude an Iranian nuclear agreement; Research of ceasefire in Gaza and developing a complete China policy on the heels of an intense trade war between the two countries.
A senior administration official defended the imminent upheaval, noting that the Republicans recently led an NSC much smaller than the Democrats.
The conversations concerning which will possibly lead the NSC and how the president wants to reshape his way of working, is underway, said two of the officials at CNN. The president came to see Rubio as a key operator of all his foreign transactions and initially chose it to replace Waltz because a large part of his portfolio in the State Department rided that of the National Security Advisor.
Rubio, who told people close to him that he was preparing to stay in the role of up to six months, was based on aid from the State Department to help with his new NSC portfolio, according to a senior administration official and a head of the State Department.
A senior State Department official said that all NSC discussions are work in progress, but have recognized that a slimming of the foreign policy is likely. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau has been invited to assume more functions of the State Department in the past few weeks, said the head of the State Department, specifically linked to calling calls with counterparts, meetings and some future trips.
The head of the State Department added that there is “no clear direction” on how it will work. “They must first cross this trip (in the Middle East),” said the person.
Departures have only aggravated the cold among NSC staff, who have a lot in search of an outing.
A precedent purge Was triggered by the pressure on Trump of Laura Loodor, an far -right activist who said that September 11 was an inner work.
Rubio heads directly to the president’s trip to join a meeting of foreign ministers from NATO in Antalya, Turkey, this week. But while he is in Türkiye, Rubio will attend the first round of the Ukraine Russia talks and will meet the Syrian Foreign Minister, Trump said in Saudi Arabia.
This story has been updated with additional information.