A restructuring of the White House National Security Council (NSC) got under way on Friday, as US President Donald Trump moved to slash the size and scope of the once-powerful body, five sources briefed on the matter said.
Staff dealing with a variety of major geopolitical issues, from Ukraine to Kashmir, were sent termination notices in the afternoon, the sources said on condition of anonymity.
The move came just weeks after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio took over from Mike Waltz as national security adviser.
Photo: AP
The NSC declined to comment.
The NSC restructuring is expected to further reduce the agency’s influence, transforming it from a powerful policymaking body into a small organization focused more on implementing the president’s agenda than on shaping it, the sources said.
In practice, the move is expected to grant more authority to the US Department of State, the US Department of Defense and other departments and agencies involved in diplomacy, national security and intelligence matters, the sources said.
The Financial Times (FT) has reported that NSC senior director for Asia Ivan Kanapathy remains in post, but his entire staff, including his China team, has been fired.
It remains unclear whether his deputy, Alex Wong, who is a well-respected official with hawkish views on China, remains in position, it said.
Several high-ranking staffers were fired earlier in the year after right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer presented Trump with a list of national security staffers she perceived to be disloyal.
The FT said that Loomer, who helped persuade Trump to fire Waltz, had also sought to remove Wong and Kanapathy.
The administration’s aim is to reduce the size of the NSC to just a few dozen people.
Four sources with knowledge of the plans said they expect the final headcount at the NSC to come out to about 50 people.
The NSC is traditionally the main body used by presidents to coordinate national security strategy. Its staff often make key decisions regarding the US’ foreign policy.
The body had more than 300 staffers under former US president Joe Biden, but even before the recent firings under Trump it was well less than half the size of Biden’s NSC.
Additional reporting by staff writer
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
RSS