Marco Rubio, the secretary of state who is also serving as the national security adviser, on Friday revealed a significant restructuring of the National Security Council, reducing the size of its staff by at least half, according to a person with knowledge of the move.
The dramatic changes involve a combination of officials from other agencies returning to their original offices, as well as others being placed on administrative leave, effective immediately, said the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly. Some of the teams on the N.S.C. that focus on specific regions or issues will be gutted, while others will be collapsed and folded into others. Still other teams will cease to exist.
Andy Baker, Vice President JD Vance’s national security adviser, will serve as the deputy for the reconfigured N.S.C., alongside Robert Gabriel, whose current title is assistant to the president for policy.
The changes were reported earlier by Axios.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The dramatic downsizing comports with President Trump’s view of how foreign policy debates should be conducted: from the top down, with advisers taking the president’s desired outcomes and finding a way to comply with them. Past presidents have used the N.S.C. in different ways, but generally it has served as a coordinating body across departments for key policy discussions and decisions.
The N.S.C. has a core staff of presidential appointees supported by dozens of specialists who are detailed — or essentially on loan — from other departments and agencies across the government.
Mr. Trump also has held a deep distrust for and suspicion of the N.S.C. since the earliest days of his first term, in 2017. People who have worked for him over time say he believes it was the source of significant undermining of his policy views.
Mr. Trump’s first of two impeachments involved testimony before Congress from Alexander Vindman, the director of European Affairs at the N.S.C., about the president pressing the then newly elected Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, for an investigation into Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his family. At the time, Mr. Biden was one of Mr. Trump’s chief potential rivals in the 2020 election.
In early April, Mr. Trump fired several N.S.C. aides after a meeting with the far-right activist Laura Loomer, who presented him with a list of people she suspected of disloyalty.
Maggie Haberman is a White House correspondent for The Times, reporting on President Trump.
Erica L. Green is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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