President Trump is drastically reducing the number of national security and foreign policy experts employed by the National Security Council.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
A shake-up at the National Security Council. President Trump revamped his national security team at the beginning of this month when he named Marco Rubio as his national security adviser. Now that council – which Mr. Rubio oversees, in addition to being secretary of state – is headed for some changes. NPR’s Greg Myre joins us. Greg, thanks so much for being with us.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
SIMON: Now, the Trump administration hasn’t made any announcement, but NPR has been reporting this story. What do we know?
MYRE: So dozens of staffers at the National Security Council were abruptly dismissed on Friday afternoon. They were informed at 4:30 p.m. and told to leave by 5. This comes from sources who spoke with our NPR colleagues Tom Bowman and Franco Ordoñez. Now, the White House has not commented, so we don’t have details or know the precise motive, but attention is certainly focused on Marco Rubio. He was and is secretary of state. Then at the beginning of this month, as you noted, Trump dismissed his national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and gave Rubio that job as well. This means Rubio is responsible for this National Security Council, and we’re seeing this shake-up just three weeks after he was put in charge.
SIMON: And, Greg, remind us of the role of the National Security Council.
MYRE: Yeah. So the NSC works out of the White House. It has 200 to 300 staffers, depending on the presidential administration. It plays a key role in developing and implementing the president’s foreign policy, even though we don’t hear a lot about it. Many of these staffers are on loan from other departments – the Pentagon, the State Department, the CIA. The NSC has grown over the years. There are periodic calls to scale it back. One of Trump’s national security advisers in his first term, Robert O’Brien, recently wrote this in an op-ed. One source, for example, told NPR that the Middle East section at the NSC is being reduced from 10 staffers to five. So it appears to be an attempt to streamline the national security process. Though, again, we don’t know precisely because it was done without notice or explanation.
SIMON: Now, there was a lot of reshuffling among the national security team during President Trump’s first term. Is this that all over again?
MYRE: Well, Scott, I think, at this point, we can say what we’re seeing is very unusual arrangements on the national security team. Marco Rubio has these dual roles, which is very rare. His stock seems to be on the rise with Trump. Yet some of the biggest foreign policy matters, Trump has turned to Steve Witkoff, his longtime friend from his New York real estate days. Witkoff had no national security experience, and yet he’s the point man on the Iran nuclear negotiations. He’s also the main negotiator in the U.S. efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war. So at this point, the Trump administration still feels like it’s working out some of these arrangements on the fly.
SIMON: Also, Friday, Defense Secretary Hegseth announced new restrictions for reporters who cover the Pentagon. What can you tell us about that?
MYRE: Yeah. Hegseth said reporters must now be escorted by Pentagon officials when they leave the area inside the Pentagon designated for the media. This reverses decades of policy where reporters could move about in the nonclassified parts of the Pentagon and generally had pretty good access to officials. Hegseth has taken a number of moves to limit contact between journalists and military officials. The Pentagon Press Association, which represents journalists covering the Pentagon, said it, quote, “appears to be a direct attack on the freedom of the press and America’s right to know what its military is doing.” I’ll note, the Pentagon has had only one formal press briefing in four months under this new administration, and Hegseth didn’t take part in that one.
SIMON: NPR national security correspondent Greg Myre. Thanks so much, Greg.
MYRE: Sure thing, Scott.
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