US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in his new add-on role of national security adviser, is expected to significantly scale down the size of the National Security Council and make a drastic change to how it works, four people with direct knowledge of the plans told NBC News, Report informs.
Shrinking the staff at the NSC would be in part designed to more closely align how it operates with the way President Donald Trump makes decisions, these people said. Rather than a large staff generating policy recommendations for the president, the idea is to create a version along the lines Trump prefers — more top-down, with the president directing the national security adviser who then leads the staff to carry out those orders, two of the people said.
When Trump took office the NSC had 300 staffers, which was cut in January to about 150. The expected cuts could whittle the staff down to between 50 and 60, but a final decision has not been made, said three of the people with direct knowledge of plans. Rubio does not plan to fire any staff but is expected to reassign them to other agencies, a senior administration official with direct knowledge of Rubio’s decision-making said.
“Secretary Rubio is doing an incredible job serving as both Secretary of State and White House National Security Advisor,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to NBC News. “Under his leadership at the White House, the NSC team will be streamlined to ensure maximum efficiency and coordination with outside agencies.”
During his flight to the Middle East this past weekend, Rubio discussed the structure of the NSC with Sergio Gor, the White House director of presidential personnel who has managed the appointment of Trump’s staff.
Alongside other White House officials, Gor and Rubio reviewed data collected over the last three months about NSC personnel and settled on a plan to significantly cut down the size of the staff, the people with direct knowledge of the plans said.
The data included spreadsheets of NSC staff, positions and salaries, as well as possible redundancies where multiple staff are performing similar duties, one of these people said.