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160 national security staffers are sent home as the White House aligns its team to Trump’s agenda

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160 national security staffers are sent home as the White House aligns its team to Trump’s agenda
News

News

160 national security staffers are sent home as the White House aligns its team to Trump’s agenda

2025-01-23 08:02 Last Updated At:08:11

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s national security adviser on Wednesday sidelined about 160 National Security Council aides, sending them home while the administration reviews staffing and tries to align it with Trump’s agenda.

The career government employees, commonly referred to as detailees, were summoned Wednesday for an all-staff call and told they will be expected to be available to the council's senior directors but would not need to report to the White House. The council provides national security and foreign policy advice to the president.

Brian McCormack, chief of staff to national security adviser Mike Waltz, delivered the news in a two-minute phone call, telling the detailees they “are directed to be on call and report to the office only if contacted by the NSC leadership.”

“As anyone who has had the privilege of working here in the White House knows, it’s a tremendous honor to support the executive office of the president and the presidency itself,” said McCormack, according to a recording of the call obtained by The Associated Press. “We also know that every president is entitled to have a staff and the advisers that they need to implement the goals that the American people elected him to pursue.”

Trump, a Republican, is sidelining these nonpolitical experts on topics that range from counterterrorism to global climate policy at a time when the United States is dealing with a disparate set of complicated foreign policy matters, including conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Such structuring could make new policy experts brought in to the NSC less likely to speak up about policy differences and concerns.

Waltz had signaled before Inauguration Day that he would look to return holdover civil servants who worked in the council during President Joe Biden's administration to their home agencies. That was meant to ensure the council is staffed by those who support Trump's goals.

By the end of the review, Waltz will look to have a “more efficient, flatter” NSC, one official said. The officials declined to comment on the ultimate number of personnel — nonpolitical detailees as well as political appointees — whom Trump and Waltz would like to see as part of the council once the review is completed.

Officials said they have already begun bringing detailees from agencies with expertise that the new administration values, including some who had served during the first Trump administration.

Some directors have made decisions to inform detailees they will be sent back to their home agencies. For example, multiple holdover detailees assigned to the counterterrorism directorate were told on Tuesday that their assignments were being cut short, according to two people familiar with the move who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

At least some holdover detailees sent home Wednesday had their White House emails turned off soon after the call ended, but were told to remain reachable on their personal cellphones. It is unlikely they will be assigned any substantive work during the review.

Waltz "promised and authorized a full review of NSC personnel,” council spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement. “It is entirely appropriate for Mr. Waltz to ensure NSC personnel are committed to implementing President Trump’s America First agenda to protect our national security and wisely use the tax dollars of America’s working men and women. Since 12:01 pm on Monday personnel reviews and decisions based on the evaluations are being made.”

The dozens of staff members affected by the decision are largely subject matter experts from the State Department, the FBI and the CIA on temporary duty that typically lasts one year to two years.

Incoming senior Trump administration officials this month also had questioned some career civil servants about which 2024 candidate they voted for, their political contributions and whether they have made social media posts that could be considered incriminating by Trump’s team, a person familiar with the matter told the AP. That person spoke on the condition of the anonymity to discuss the sensitive personnel matter.

Waltz in a recent interview with Breitbart News said that he wanted the NSC to be staffed by personnel who are “100% aligned with the president’s agenda.”

The NSC was launched as an arm of the White House during the Truman administration. It was tasked with advising and assisting the president on national security and foreign policy and coordinating among various government agencies. It is common for experts detailed to the NSC to carry over from one administration to the next, even when the White House changes parties.

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, made a case for the incoming Trump administration to hold over career government employees assigned to the NSC, at least through the early going. He called the career appointees “patriots” who have served “without fear or favor for both Democratic and Republican administrations.”

Trump, during his first term, was scarred when two career military officers detailed to the NSC became whistleblowers, raising their concerns about Trump’s 2019 call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump sought an investigation of Biden and his son Hunter. That episode led to Trump’s first impeachment.

Alexander Vindman was listening to the call in his role as an NSC official when he became alarmed at what he heard. He approached his twin brother, Eugene, who at the time was serving as an ethics lawyer at the NSC. Both Vindmans reported their concerns to superiors.

FILE - Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., speaks during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Capitol Hill, Feb. 29, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

FILE - Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., speaks during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Capitol Hill, Feb. 29, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

FILE - Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., speaks outside the hush money criminal case of former president Donald Trump in New York, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

FILE - Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., speaks outside the hush money criminal case of former president Donald Trump in New York, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

For anyone who’s been searching for signs of love in this world, there was proof of it this Valentine’s Day on the Eiffel Tower, where a couple embraced in a kiss that was 674 steps above the avenues of Paris.

But love was also on display in far less iconic locales: A couple kissed on a park bench in Bucharest, Romania. Florists made bouquets in a flower shop in Lagos, Nigeria. Heart-shaped plaques were tied to a tree branch at a shrine in Tokyo.

Associated Press photographers on Friday captured moments of the holiday around the world.

In Germany, people walked across the Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne, where an estimated 500,000 “love locks” were attached, the padlocks engraved with inscriptions of lovers. In Erbstetten on the Swabian Alb, a wedding couple was made of bales of straw.

In Rome, flowers were placed next to “St. Valentine Skull” in the Santa Maria in Cosmedin Basilica. On Thursday, visitors admired the statue “Paolina Borghese as Venus Victorious” during an event at the Galleria Borghese museum.

And in a different take on the tradition of giving flowers to one's Valentine, in Cambodia's southern Phnom Penh, villagers made flowers from corn husks in Tnout Chum Village. While back to the traditional, a florist arranged a rose bouquet outside a flower shop in Hanoi, Vietnam.

A woman, holding a long stem rose, walks along a snowy street on Valentine's Day in Nuuk, Greenland, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A woman, holding a long stem rose, walks along a snowy street on Valentine's Day in Nuuk, Greenland, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A couple kiss as they watch the Philadelphia Eagles' NFL football Super Bowl 59 parade and celebration, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

A couple kiss as they watch the Philadelphia Eagles' NFL football Super Bowl 59 parade and celebration, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

A man walks holding flowers and balloons as he is searching for his girlfriend on Valentine's Day, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

A man walks holding flowers and balloons as he is searching for his girlfriend on Valentine's Day, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

A couple hug each other in front of a heart decorated with red balloons, at a sea view point in Agios Theodoros village, in Larnaca district, Cyprus, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

A couple hug each other in front of a heart decorated with red balloons, at a sea view point in Agios Theodoros village, in Larnaca district, Cyprus, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Women on a scooter get ready to drive away with a flower arrangement they bought at a flower market in Caracas, Venezuela on Valentine's Day, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Women on a scooter get ready to drive away with a flower arrangement they bought at a flower market in Caracas, Venezuela on Valentine's Day, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Two couples embrace at the Our Lady of the Hill viewpoint overlooking downtown Lisbon as night falls, on Valentine's Day, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Two couples embrace at the Our Lady of the Hill viewpoint overlooking downtown Lisbon as night falls, on Valentine's Day, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

A couple gets married during a 'Love in Times Square" event on Valentine's Day on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

A couple gets married during a 'Love in Times Square" event on Valentine's Day on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

A wedding couple made of bales of straw covered in snow on Valentine's Day in Erbstetten on the Swabian Alb, Germany, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (Thomas Warnack/dpa via AP)

A wedding couple made of bales of straw covered in snow on Valentine's Day in Erbstetten on the Swabian Alb, Germany, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (Thomas Warnack/dpa via AP)

Heart-shaped wish plaques tied to a branch are seen at a shrine Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, on Valentine's Day, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Heart-shaped wish plaques tied to a branch are seen at a shrine Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, on Valentine's Day, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A vendor decorates his stall to attract customers at a market on the Valentine's Day, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

A vendor decorates his stall to attract customers at a market on the Valentine's Day, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

A man sprays red paint on a Valentine's Day heart-shaped decoration in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

A man sprays red paint on a Valentine's Day heart-shaped decoration in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

A florist holds a rose bouquet outside a flower shop on Valentine's Day, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025 in Lagos, Nigeria. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

A florist holds a rose bouquet outside a flower shop on Valentine's Day, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025 in Lagos, Nigeria. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

A couple takes pictures in front of a fence covered with "love locks" on Valentine's Day at the North Seoul Tower on Mt. Namsan in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A couple takes pictures in front of a fence covered with "love locks" on Valentine's Day at the North Seoul Tower on Mt. Namsan in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A man holds a bunch of flowers during the Valentine's Day, in London, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

A man holds a bunch of flowers during the Valentine's Day, in London, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

A man presents flowers to a woman on Valentine's Day in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

A man presents flowers to a woman on Valentine's Day in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

The "St. Valentine Skull" is crowned with flowers in the Santa Maria in Cosmedin Basilica, in Rome Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

The "St. Valentine Skull" is crowned with flowers in the Santa Maria in Cosmedin Basilica, in Rome Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A Thai vendor arranges artificial roses at a flower market during Valentine's Day in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A Thai vendor arranges artificial roses at a flower market during Valentine's Day in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

People passing the traditional love locks on Valentine's Day on the Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne, Germany, where an estimated 500,000 padlocks with engravings and inscriptions of lovers have been attached to the bridge over the years, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

People passing the traditional love locks on Valentine's Day on the Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne, Germany, where an estimated 500,000 padlocks with engravings and inscriptions of lovers have been attached to the bridge over the years, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

A couple poses for a photograph during the Valentine's Day, in London, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

A couple poses for a photograph during the Valentine's Day, in London, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

A florist arranges a rose bouquet outside a floral shop on Valentine's Day, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025 in Hanoi, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)

A florist arranges a rose bouquet outside a floral shop on Valentine's Day, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025 in Hanoi, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)

A couple takes a selfie during Valentine's Day at Paradox Museum in Mumbai, India, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

A couple takes a selfie during Valentine's Day at Paradox Museum in Mumbai, India, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

A couple kiss on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower during Valentine's day, in Paris, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A couple kiss on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower during Valentine's day, in Paris, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Visitors admire the statue "Paolina Borghese as Venus Victorious" by Canova during the event "The Goddess of Love, the thousands faces of Venus" presented to the public at the Galleria Borghese museum ahead of Valentine day, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Visitors admire the statue "Paolina Borghese as Venus Victorious" by Canova during the event "The Goddess of Love, the thousands faces of Venus" presented to the public at the Galleria Borghese museum ahead of Valentine day, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A couple kisses during a Valentine's Day competition in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

A couple kisses during a Valentine's Day competition in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

A vendor sits next to a kiosk at Rizhsky flower market on Valentine's Day in Moscow, Russia. Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

A vendor sits next to a kiosk at Rizhsky flower market on Valentine's Day in Moscow, Russia. Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

Local villagers make fake flowers from corn husk in Tnout Chum Village, southern Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Valentine's Day Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Local villagers make fake flowers from corn husk in Tnout Chum Village, southern Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Valentine's Day Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A couple kiss in a park in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A couple kiss in a park in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

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