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President Donald Trump has initiated a sweeping downsizing of the White House’s National Security Council (NSC), dismissing dozens of staff members, placing others on administrative leave, and instructing many detailees to return to their home agencies.

Newsweek reached out to the White House, NSC and State Department outside of normal business hours on Friday evening by email for comment.

Why It Matters

The NSC has undergone a number of changes over the past month, starting with the removal of Mike Waltz as head of the agency following the Signal chat group scandal. Trump has instead nominated Waltz as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, while assigning Secretary of State Marco Rubio to serve as acting adviser.

The administration then placed around 160 aides on administrative leave while officials reviewed staffing to best meet Trump’s goal of downsizing the size and scope of the federal government.

Far-right media personality Laura Loomer has been tied to Trump’s decision to fire Waltz and other aides, although the president has denied that she was the reason for the firings.

U.S. President Donald Trump listens as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 30, 2025, in Washington, DC U.S. President Donald Trump listens as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 30, 2025, in Washington, DC AFP/Getty Images

What To Know

Trump has initiated a significant overhaul of the NSC that will ultimately cut it down and return a many career appointees back to the home agencies – a move that some have described as a “liquidation” due to the severity of cuts being implemented.

The FT reports that the restructuring was described by one insider as a “liquidation. The news outlet said that Ivan Kanapathy, the NSC’s senior director for Asia, remains in his role, though his China-focused team has been let go.

Along with the Financial Times, CNN and Axios have also confirmed the NSC shake-up, which comes three weeks after Trump removed his first national security adviser, Mike Waltz.

NSC Chief of Staff Brian McCormack informed members of the NSC that they had 30 minutes to remove their belongings and exit the building, which is located next to the White House.

Dennis Wilder, a former top NSC official in George W. Bush’s administration, told the FT there was “no question that the NSC in the Biden administration had become bloated and was high-handedly trying to implement foreign policy rather than doing its traditional role of co-ordinating the implementation by the rest of the national security establishment.”

What Happens Next

The NSC will continue to operate at a reduced capacity, and it is unclear how the cuts impact its ability to perform its duties.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.

Update 5/23/25, 7:53 p.m. ET: This articles has been updated with additional information and context.

Update 5/23/25, 8:00 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration are working to restructure the White House National Security Council.

New plans include cutting the number of NSC staffers from 350 to less than 150 and cutting the number of NSC committees, reports.

Some of these cuts have already begun. The outlet reports that notices went out to over 100 staffers on Friday afternoon following a staff meeting.

And in the last week, the White House has re-interviewed members of the staff to determine cuts. Politico says some staffers were told they would be placed on administrative leave, while others on temporary detail will return to their original agencies.

In April, President Trump shortly after conservative activist Laura Loomer urged him to remove staffers she claimed were not sufficiently loyal to his “Make America Great Again” agenda, according to an Associated Press report.

The changes come after President Trump’s former national security adviser, after being nominated to be the next U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Rubio has been serving as interim national security adviser since Waltz’s exit earlier this month.

The NSC was created during the Truman administration to advise and assist the president on national security and foreign policy and to coordinate with various government agencies.

Hear this story

WASHINGTON ― A significant number of staff members of the White House National Security Council were dismissed from their positions on May 23 as the Trump administration carried out a major restructuring of the agency.

The firings, reported by the Washington Post, Reuters and other media outlets, came three weeks after President Donald Trump pushed out former national security adviser Mike Waltz and made Secretary of State Marco Rubio the interim head of the NSC.

Staffers who dealt with a wide rang of geopolitical issues received termination notices as part of an NSC restructuring, which is expected to grant more authority to the State and Defense departments.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

CNN reported more than 100 NSC employees received notices at about 4:20 p.m. ET, notifying them they were put on administrative leave and giving them 30 minutes to clean out their desks. The workers represented a sizable share of the overall NSC workforce, which grew to about 300 workers under President Joe Biden but had already been operating with less than half that figure under Trump.

Axios quoted an unnamed White House official who said, “The NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It’s Marco vs. the Deep State. We’re gutting the Deep State.”

The Trump administration has terminated tens of thousands of employees across the federal government, and forced out even more though voluntary buyouts, as part of the Department of Government Efficiency launched by Elon Musk.

The restructuring comes after Trump in April fired multiple senior NSC officials flagged by right-wing activist Laura Loomer as being disloyal to Trump during a White House visit. Loomer also raised concerns about Waltz, who Trump nominated as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations after Waltz resigned as national security adviser.

Contributing: Reuters.

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.

By Kylie Atwood, Kit Maher and Alex Marquardt, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration has put more than 100 officials at the National Security Council at the White House on administrative leave on Friday as part of a restructuring under interim national security adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two US officials and another source familiar with the matter.

CNN previously reported that a significant overhaul of the body in charge of coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda was expected in the coming days, including a staff reduction and a reinforced top-down approach with decision-making concentrated at the highest levels.

An email from NSC chief of staff Brian McCormack went out around 4:20 p.m. informing those being dismissed they’d have 30 minutes to clean out their desks, according to an administration official. If they weren’t on campus, the email read, they could email an address and arrange a time to retrieve their stuff later and turn in devices.

The email subject line read: “Your return to home agency,” indicating that most of those affected were detailed to the NSC from other departments and agencies.

On Thursday, Rubio convened a meeting with principals, which raised speculation that it was about the re-organization, the official said. And on Friday at 3:45 p.m., shortly before the email went out, senior directors were summoned to a meeting with Rubio.

A flurry of emails from those leaving then started going out with personal contact information.

With this happening on a Friday afternoon before a long holiday weekend, the official called it “as unprofessional and reckless as could possibly be.”

Those put on leave include career officials, as well as political hires made during the Trump administration.

In recent weeks staffers were being re-interviewed by the Office of the Presidential Personnel as the reshaping of the office was taking place, sources said. One of the questions asked was what officials thought was the appropriate size of the NSC, one source said.

Staffed by foreign policy experts from across the US government, the NSC typically serves as a critical body for coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda.

But under President Donald Trump, the NSC’s role has been diminished, with the overhaul expected to further reduce its importance in the White House.

Earlier this month, Mike Waltz – who previously led the NSC – was removed from his role in the first major staff shakeup of the new administration. Trump announced that he would nominate Waltz to serve as UN ambassador and Rubio would replace him on an acting basis at the NSC.

Waltz had been on shaky ground within the administration – having lost most of his influence in the West Wing – after he inadvertently added a journalist to a messaging app group chat about highly sensitive military strikes.

Even before the Signal fiasco, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles had been privately unimpressed with Waltz. And weeks before he was out, his influence internally had been waning, illustrated best by Trump’s decision to dismiss several staffers from the NSC at the urging of far-right activist Laura Loomer, who told him they were disloyal.

CNN’s Katie Bo Lillis and Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.

This story and headline have been updated with additional details.

The-CNN-Wire

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WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 9: The White House is seen from the North Lawn on March 9, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images) – Samuel Corum/Getty Images

The Trump administration has put more than 100 officials at the National Security Council at the White House on administrative leave on Friday as part of a restructuring under interim national security adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two US officials and another source familiar with the matter.

CNN previously reported that a significant overhaul of the body in charge of coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda was expected in the coming days, including a staff reduction and a reinforced top-down approach with decision-making concentrated at the highest levels.

An email from NSC chief of staff Brian McCormack went out around 4:20 p.m. informing those being dismissed they’d have 30 minutes to clean out their desks, according to an administration official. If they weren’t on campus, the email read, they could email an address and arrange a time to retrieve their stuff later and turn in devices.

The email subject line read: “Your return to home agency,” indicating that most of those affected were detailed to the NSC from other departments and agencies.

On Thursday, Rubio convened a meeting with principals, which raised speculation that it was about the re-organization, the official said. And on Friday at 3:45 p.m., shortly before the email went out, senior directors were summoned to a meeting with Rubio.

A flurry of emails from those leaving then started going out with personal contact information.

With this happening on a Friday afternoon before a long holiday weekend, the official called it “as unprofessional and reckless as could possibly be.”

Those put on leave include career officials, as well as political hires made during the Trump administration.

In recent weeks staffers were being re-interviewed by the Office of the Presidential Personnel as the reshaping of the office was taking place, sources said. One of the questions asked was what officials thought was the appropriate size of the NSC, one source said.

Staffed by foreign policy experts from across the US government, the NSC typically serves as a critical body for coordinating the president’s foreign policy agenda.

But under President Donald Trump, the NSC’s role has been diminished, with the overhaul expected to further reduce its importance in the White House.

Earlier this month, Mike Waltz – who previously led the NSC – was removed from his role in the first major staff shakeup of the new administration. Trump announced that he would nominate Waltz to serve as UN ambassador and Rubio would replace him on an acting basis at the NSC.

Waltz had been on shaky ground within the administration – having lost most of his influence in the West Wing – after he inadvertently added a journalist to a messaging app group chat about highly sensitive military strikes.

Even before the Signal fiasco, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles had been privately unimpressed with Waltz. And weeks before he was out, his influence internally had been waning, illustrated best by Trump’s decision to dismiss several staffers from the NSC at the urging of far-right activist Laura Loomer, who told him they were disloyal.

CNN’s Katie Bo Lillis and Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.

This story and headline have been updated with additional details.

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