The White House has sent more than 150 civil service experts home from key roles at the National Security Council while Trump administration officials decide whether they are sufficiently loyal to the president and supportive of his agenda.
Trump National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, a former Florida congressman who resigned from the House of Representatives to take up his White House post on Monday, ordered the 160 “detainees” — federal workers from agencies such as the State Department, CIA, and Defense Department — to work from home and be available for consultations with political appointees if needed while the new administration decides who, if anyone, will be asked to remain.
The career employees who serve at the NSC typically do so for several years at a time and are meant to provide expertise and institutional knowledge at the White House office responsible for foreign policy and national security advice to the president and his top aides.
Waltz had previously indicated a desire to purge the NSC of so-called “holdovers” who served during the previous Biden administration, citing a desire to ensure that those working there are loyal to Trump’s agenda.
During Trump’s first term, two serving Army officers detailed to the NSC from the Pentagon — twin brothers Alexander and Eugene Vindman — became embroiled in the House investigation that led to Trump’s first impeachment after Alexander Vindman, a Ukraine expert, listened to Trump threaten to withhold military aid to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky unless the Ukrainian leader announced sham investigations into then-former vice president Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
After he was acquitted in his first impeachment trial, Trump ordered both Vindmans to be fired and escorted from the White House. The incident hardened Trump’s distrust for career government workers, who he has often derided as a “deep state.”
But a National Security Council official told The Independent that the NSC will continue to be staffed by a combination of career experts and political appointees.
In a statement, NSC spokesperson Brian Hughes confirmed that Waltz had “promised and authorized a full review of NSC personnel” and called it “entirely appropriate” for him to “ensure NSC 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.”
Waltz’s predecessor, Jake Sullvan, told reporters last month that he considered the career staff at the NSC to be “patriots” who are “dedicated to the national interests of this country” and have “served without fear or favor for both Democratic and Republican administrations.”
Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that Trump transition officials had questioned career NSC staff about their political affiliation and voting history.
But Hughes, the Trump NSC spokesperson, flatly denied that any such questioning was taking place when asked by The Independent.
