National Security Council

The White House has released a revised National Security Presidential Memorandum reorganizing the structure of the National Security Council. The memorandum lists the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as "regular attendees" of the Principals Committee and no longer includes the President's Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon.

In 2012, I witnessed a scene that has been on my mind this week: then-Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough reprimanded a less experienced staffer for merely referencing the ongoing reelection campaign during a mid-level NSC policy meeting. Why? Because, he said, “politics have no place in the Situation Room.”

Earlier today, President Donald Trump issued NSPM-2, which reorganizes the National Security Council. Every president that comes into office creates a National Security Policy Memorandum to reorganize the NSC to reflect their own sensibilities. Below is a summary of how President Trump has organized his NSC.

President Trump has signed three executive orders on reorganization of the National Security Council, U.S. strategy against ISIS, and ethics commitments by executive branch appointees. The three documents are available below. We will be posting summaries of the orders shortly.