The Administration Takes a Hatchet to the NSC

Nearly all were people the Trump administration had hired to the NSC. In dismantling the NSC, Trump is not only removing part of his government’s brain but creating real risk should a crisis strike. So why do Trump officials think the NSC staff is unnecessary or harmful? The NSC policy staff stood at 186 at the end of Biden’s term, larger than in Trump’s first term but smaller than under George W. Bush or Barack Obama. In any other administration, the NSC would run a tiger team for such an eventuality.