National security adviser Mike Waltz sends home dozens of NSC officials
National security adviser Michael Waltz has authorized a “full review” of dozens of career officials who staff the White House on issues ranging from Iranian and North Korean nuclear proliferation to cyberespionage and Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to his spokesman.
The move is aimed at ensuring National Security Council 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,” National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement.
“Since 12:01 pm on Monday personnel reviews and decisions based on the evaluations are being made,” Hughes said in the statement.
The officials, known as aides or detailees, were told Wednesday in a brief call conducted by Waltz’s chief of staff, Brian McCormack, that they were to leave the building immediately, go home and be “on call.” They were given instructions to return only if asked by their supervisors - senior directors appointed by the Trump administration, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe personnel matters.
The decision by Waltz came so abruptly that it impeded the ability of some career officials to physically leave the White House complex because their badges no longer worked, said a U.S. official. The awkward impasse required the Secret Service to manually drop the gates for those with deactivated badges.
One former NSC official said that given the classified nature of the NSC’s work, it would be practically impossible for staff to work from home. The resulting lack of career staff to aid with the transition could make it more challenging for the new team to grapple with substantive security issues, the former official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The personnel have been assigned to the NSC from other government agencies, including the CIA, National Security Agency, State Department and Pentagon. They were asked to contact the “human resources’’ office if they were interested in staying on, and the new team would work through those requests, the two people said.
Some career staffers have been asked to stay on, the people said. Other detailees were serving out the final months of a one- or two-year tour and had planned to return to their home agencies.
Four years ago, the incoming Biden NSC team offered to let aides who had served under the Trump administration return early to their home agencies if they chose.
The personnel review comes in the wake of accusations this month by some former Trump administration aides that they were hearing that Waltz was preparing to allow a significant percentage of Biden NSC staff to stay.
“This is a serious error if true,’’ former aide Joshua Steinman said on X. “Removing people like this isn’t personal, it’s just prudent.’’
The following day, Waltz posted on X that “anyone working under President Trump in the NSC will be fully aligned with his America First agenda.” He added, ‘‘Any rumors or suggestions to the contrary are fake news and a distraction from the mission.’’
The guidance did not appear to be a loyalty test, said two U.S. officials familiar with the matter and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
“They are evaluating who’s still left and who can be helpful,” one of them said. “I wish they would have done it sooner and not waited till after the inauguration. Just for the good of national security and the good of the country, you want your NSC up and running from Day 1. But they have every right to have the detailees they want there. I just wish they would have done it a different way.”
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Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report.