Donald Trump orders layoffs at NSC: Staffers dealing with ‘issues from Ukraine to Kashmir’ dismissed

In a sweeping layoff, dozens of staff members were dismissed from the White House National Serurity Council on Friday, as US President Donald Trump took major step to reduce size and influence of agency, according to a report by Reuters citing sources.

The report mentioned, “staff dealing with most major geopolitical issues, from Ukraine to Kashmir, were terminated in the afternoon,” the sources told Reuters.

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Why did Donald Trump order major layoffs?

In a sweeping layoff, dozens of staffers were removed from the White House National Security Council on Friday, as Trump moved to scale back the agency’s size and influence, Reuters reported, citing five sources.

The move comes on the heels of weeks after Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking over from Mike Waltz as national security adviser.

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“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 told Reuters.

In practice, the move is expected to grant more authority to the State Department, the Defense Department and other departments and agencies involved in diplomacy, national security and intelligence matters, Reuters reported citing the sources.

More in a row to be laid off?

The Trump administration aims to shrink the National Security Council to just a few dozen staffers, with four sources indicating the final number could be around 50, said Reuters.

The NSC serves as the primary body for coordinating US national security strategy, making critical decisions on global conflicts and playing a central role in safeguarding the nation.

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The body had more than 300 staffers under Democratic President Joe Biden, but even before the recent firings under Trump was considerably less than half the size of Biden’s NSC. The staffers who are cut from the agency will be moved to other positions in government, two of the sources told Reuters.

Many conservatives have long advocated for a smaller National Security Council, arguing that many of its roles duplicate functions already handled by other government agencies.

However, Democrats and some Republicans warn that drastically reducing the NSC’s size could leave Trump’s policies less guided by expert input, Reuters reported.

Earlier in the year, several senior staffers were dismissed after right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer gave Trump a list of national security personnel she claimed were disloyal.

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Morale within the NSC took another hit after a disclosure that former National Security Adviser Waltz had accidentally disclosed details of an upcoming bombing campaign in Yemen to a journalist from The Atlantic.

As part of the restructuring, certain sections of the NSC – known as directorates – are expected to be combined with other directorates or eliminated altogether, three sources said. In most of the directorates that remain, only a few staff are left, the sources told Reuters.

(With inputs from Reuters)