By Gram Slattery
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – At least 20 people have been fired from the White House National Security Council in recent weeks, a broader exodus than previously reported, leaving parts of the key national security body thinly staffed, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
At least 15 dismissals occurred around the first week of April, when Laura Loomer, a conservative influencer, presented U.S. President Donald Trump with a list of NSC officials she perceived to be disloyal.
There have been additional firings since then, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters. While Trump administration officials have long envisioned a pared down NSC focused on a few core missions, multiple NSC directorates now have few or no staff, including those overseeing Latin America policy, international organizations and legislative affairs.
The NSC dismissals, which have affected offices overseeing every subject area from South Asian affairs to biosecurity, are the latest example of personnel turmoil within America’s national security establishment, including at the Pentagon and the State Department.
One NSC staffer working on resilience – an area of national security focused on preparing for foreign attacks and natural disasters – was removed as recently as Friday, the sources said.
The National Security Council is the main body used by presidents to coordinate national security strategy. Its staff often make key decisions regarding America’s approach to the world’s most volatile conflicts and play a key role in keeping America safe.
Some NSC personnel turnover is normal in any new administration. Trump administration officials have publicly said they were planning for more staff changes at the NSC than is typical to ensure that all staff are loyal to the president. Some of the individuals dismissed served in the administration of President Joe Biden.
But not all dismissed staff have been holdovers, and several sources close to the NSC have privately complained about a lack of clarity from the Presidential Personnel Office – essentially the White House’s human resources department – about why some individuals have been axed.
The NSC said it is committed to Trump’s policy agenda, but that it would not otherwise comment on personnel matters.
“All employees of the National Security Council work at the pleasure of the president and we are committed to ensuring President Trump’s America First agenda is being implemented,” said NSC spokesman Brian Hughes.
Some of the changes – for example, firing staff at the directorate for international organizations – seem to align with the priorities Trump administration, which is skeptical of multilateral organizations.
In addition to the firings, multiple incoming NSC officials have not taken up posts for which they had been slated.
Victor Cervino, a Capitol Hill aide tapped by administration officials in recent weeks to take up the top spot overseeing Latin America at the NSC, ultimately did not assume that position, the sources said. The circumstances around his abandoned candidacy were not clear, and Cervino did not respond to a request for comment.
THIN STAFFING
The first months of Trump’s second presidency have been tumultuous for the NSC.
In March, The Atlantic reported that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz had accidentally invited a journalist onto a group chat in which he discussed an imminent bombing campaign in Yemen with other high-ranking officials.
That led to widespread questions from Trump allies about Waltz’s future and that of his proteges at the NSC. The mass firings that coincided with the Loomer meeting on Apr. 2 have deeply damaged morale, several sources close to the NSC said.
One official said that morale has improved since then, and that Waltz’s standing with Trump has stabilized.
CBS reported last week that administration officials were close to making some high-ranking NSC hires to rebuild the council’s ranks.
Some parts of the space where the NSC is housed in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington are largely empty during the day, said three sources.
The Directorate for International Organizations – which oversees U.S. relationships with the UN and NATO, among other multilateral bodies – has remained essentially vacant after its entire staff was dismissed in early April, two sources said.
The Directorate for African Affairs still lacked a senior director overseeing that office as of last week, they added.
The directorate overseeing South Asian affairs lost at least two staffers and the Directorate of Western Hemisphere Affairs, which oversees policy in Latin America, is largely empty.
The Western Hemisphere directorate has been led in an interim basis in recent weeks by Markus Thomi, a long-time State Department hand with significant expertise in Russian, European and Arctic affairs, but relatively little Latin America experience, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Thomi did not respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Don Durfee and Diane Craft)
