US President Donald Trump administration is reportedly conducting a drastic overhaul of the National Security Council (NSC), placing more than 100 officials on administrative leave and cutting the powerful advisory and coordination body’s staff as part of what one White House source described as an effort to “gut the Deep State." Several reports on Friday evening confirmed that staff across nearly all NSC directors, including those handling key global spots such as Ukraine, Iran, and the Indo-Pacific, were dismissed on short notice.
Reports suggest employees received emails late on Friday afternoon informing them they had just 30 minutes to clear their desks. An administration official informed reporters that re-organisation is a strategic shift aimed at reducing bureaucratic interference and concentrating foreign policy decision-making at the highest levels of government, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also serving as acting national security adviser, playing a central role.
“The NSC is the ultimate Deep State,” the official said. “It’s Marco vs. the Deep State. We’re gutting the Deep State.” Rubio recently also headed the move to downsize the State Department and USAID, highlighting that the goal is to return the NSC to its “original purpose” as a coordinating body, not a policy-shaping institution.
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“The NSC will now be better positioned to collaborate with agencies,” he told reporters without confirming the exact scope of the downsising. According to officials who spoke anonymously, the plan is to cut the NSC staff to around 50 people, down from more than 300 under the Biden administration, even below the leaner structure Trump implemented during his first term. Entire directories may be eliminated or consolidated, including those overseeing Africa policy and NATO coordination, sources confirmed to reporters. Senior administration officials reportedly cited Trump’s recent reversal of Syria sanctions as an example of the new top-down model.
"The president gave the order. The cabinet followed. No need for endless layers of committees,” one official told reporters here. “This is reverse workflow in action." The suspensions came just weeks after Trump fired former national security adviser Mike Waltz and nominated him as ambassador to the United Nations, following leaks involving sensitive military plans. Waltz had reportedly lost his reputation after accidentally inviting a journalist into private Signal chat plans about the Yemen airstrikes.
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