Robert O’Brien: More Cuts Coming at National Security Council

Zachary Stieber
By Zachary Stieber
February 12, 2020Politics
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Robert O’Brien: More Cuts Coming at National Security Council
National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien arrives for an event to announce US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on Jan. 28, 2020. (Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

More cuts are coming soon at the White House National Security Council, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said, as part of an effort to make the council streamlined and efficient and to make sure the council staffers are dedicated to carrying out policies chosen by President Donald Trump.

O’Brien, 53, said at a Feb. 11 Atlantic Council talk that officials were bringing the council “back to a manageable size.” The “right-sizing” of the council, which is almost complete, would take the total number of staffers from 175 to 110 by the end of February, he said. The downsizing would target “the bloat and inefficiency that can sometimes creep in.” Some cuts would be complete by the end of the week.

The new cuts come after the removal last week of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, 44, and Vindman’s brother, Yevgeny Vindman, from the council. Alexander Vindman, who was detailed from the Department of Defense, testified during the impeachment inquiry against Trump; his brother was a lawyer for the council who was also detailed from the army.

The Vindmans, who served in their details for over a year, “weren’t fired,” O’Brien said, echoing previous comments from White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. “Their services were no longer needed,” he said. The removals weren’t retaliation for the testimony during the impeachment efforts. Trump did not tell officials to remove the Vindmans.

“It’s really a privilege to work in the White House. It’s not a right,” O’Brien added. “At the end of the day, the president is entitled to staffers that want to execute his policy, that he has confidence in, and I think every president’s entitled to that.”

“We’re not a banana republic where a group of Lt. Colonels get together and decide what the policy is or should be,” he said.

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman
Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a military officer at the National Security Council who testified during the impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill, lower right, walks down the steps of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, on Jan. 27, 2020. (Susan Walsh/AP Photo)

The reorganization was consistent with the “Scowcroft model” used by Brent Scowcroft, who served as national security adviser for Presidents Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush, according to O’Brien. The model emphasizes that the national security adviser shouldn’t “be an advocate for one policy or another.” Instead, the adviser should “ensure that the president is well served by the cabinet, departments, and agencies in obtaining counsel and formulating his policies.”

The policies are then decided on by the president and the adviser makes sure they’re carried out.

Most of the staff on the council actually work for other departments and agencies and are part of the council for a certain length of time. O’Brien suggested that some might not be serving in the way that top officials think they should.

“When they come to the White House, they serve as the president’s personal staff and it is our view that while they are at the National Security Council, they should not represent the views of their parent agencies or departments,” he said. “They’re not there as liaison officers, and they certainly shouldn’t represent their own personal views.”

“The president has to have confidence in the folks on his National Security Council staff to ensure that they are committed to executing the agenda that he was elected by the American people to deliver,” O’Brien said. The National Security Council shouldn’t be “a mini State Department, a mini Pentagon, a mini Department of Homeland Security.”

Bringing the number of staffers down to 110 would be closer to the number seen during the George W. Bush administration. There were some 240 policy professionals during the Obama administration and over 175 when O’Brien replaced John Bolton. If the group is too large, it doesn’t effectively serve the president, O’Brien said. The cuts would be among staffers detailed from other parts of the government.

From The Epoch Times

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