WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump has removed chief strategist Steve Bannon from the National Security Council, reversing an earlier decision to give Bannon access to the group's high-level meetings.
A new memorandum about the council's composition was published Wednesday in the Federal Register. The memo no longer lists Bannon as a member of the principals committee, a group of high-ranking officials who meet to discuss pressing national security priorities.
A senior White House official said Wednesday that Bannon, the former executive chairman of Breitbart News, was initially placed on the National Security Council after Trump's inauguration to ensure implementation of the president's vision, including efforts to downsize and streamline operations at the council.
Bannon's addition to the council sparked criticism that it was inappropriate for the political adviser to play a role in national security matters.
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National security experts, including an official in former President Barack Obama's administration, characterized it as an elevation of a White House official with no national security experience, while other national security officials in the administration were included on the National Security Council only when "issues pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise" were involved. The White House later added the director of the CIA to the council.
The White House disputed that characterization, saying Trump chose to change the structure of the committee from the one in place during the Obama administration to reduce the number of meetings that senior intelligence officials were required to participate in, if they did not pertain to their areas of expertise.
Instead, one of the officials said, Bannon was put on the council early in the administration to guide and keep watch over then-national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was responsible for reshaping the operation. That official and a second official said Bannon did this from afar, attending one or two meetings of the group.
Flynn was heading the National Security Council at the time, but one official said Bannon's role had nothing to do with the troubles facing Flynn, who was asked to resign in early February for misleading the administration about his communications with Russian officials.
Another senior administration official said Flynn reluctantly agreed to have Bannon join the council. The official said Trump's chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and chief counsel Don McGahn rewrote the original council memo with Flynn to include Bannon.
The official said the move reflected Trump's dwindling faith in his national security adviser and that Flynn's daily presentations to the president were seen as disorganized and not up to par.
Bannon was there to "de-operationalize" the council from its Obama-era setup, one of the officials added, and that Bannon feels that has been accomplished and no longer feels the need to be part of the council.
"There was a concern when this administration came in that the National Security Council under the prior administration had grown too large and had taken on operational responsibilities that were not properly its role," the second official said. Bannon was placed on the committee "to help return the NSC to its proper policy coordinating role."
Flynn's replacement, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, was allowed to reorganize the council as he saw fit. McMaster immediately expressed a desire to run a less hierarchical organization and be more accessible to his staff. Lack of access to Flynn when he was in charge created widespread frustration, according to current and former administration officials familiar with the changes.
Pence: Not a demotion
The changes also downgrade the role of homeland security adviser Tom Bossert, who had been given authority to convene or chair the National Security Council's principals committee under Trump's original structure. He'll serve those roles now as delegated by McMaster, according to a presidential memorandum dated Tuesday.
Bossert joined Trump's team having previously served as deputy homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush.
The national intelligence director, Dan Coats, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, are again "regular attendees" of the principals committee, as in the Obama administration. Trump downgraded their roles and put Bannon on the committee in a Jan. 28 memorandum.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence dismissed the notion that the changes reflect a demotion.
"These are very highly valued members of this administration," he said. "They are gonna continue to play important policy roles.
"This is just a natural evolution to ensure the National Security Council is organized in a way that best serves the president in resolving and making those difficult decisions," Pence said.
As a participant of the principals committee, Bannon would have had the authority to call a vote if the president's vision for the council was not being implemented. The committee, which includes top officials from various government agencies, meets regularly to address important policy issues.
One of the officials said Bannon's removal from the council was not a reflection of any change in his standing as one of Trump's closest advisers. Bannon will maintain his security clearance as is standard for most top West Wing officials.
Russia investigation
Trump's White House is facing allegations that it funneled secret intelligence reports to a Republican congressman leading an investigation into his campaign's possible ties to Russian officials as well as Moscow's interference in the 2016 election.
The New York Times last week identified two National Security Council officials as having helped House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes view secret reports. A U.S. official confirmed that Ezra Cohen-Watnick had access to those kinds of intelligence materials but maintained he did not play a role in helping the California congressman gain access to the documents. The official pointed instead to the other official named in the Times report, Michael Ellis, a White House lawyer who previously worked for Nunes on the House committee.
Senior administration officials said McMaster was out of town when these revelations occurred.
The senior White House official would not comment on who was responsible for the changes but said they were a reflection of the confidence the president has in McMaster and were not in response to the recent controversy linked to the council.
All the officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the changes or other details that have not been formally announced.
The new memo also restores the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the energy secretary, to the principals committee.
The National Security Council was formed in 1947 to advise the president on foreign, military and domestic policies related to the country's security and to enhance cooperation among departments on all such matters.
By law, the president, vice president, secretary of state, defense secretary -- and, since 2007, the energy secretary -- are members. Also by law, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the national intelligence director are advisers to the council.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the senior Democrat on the House intelligence Committee, called Bannon's departure from the National Security Council "a positive step by Gen. McMaster to gain control over a body that was being politicized by Bannon's involvement."
Information for this article was contributed by Vivian Salama, Julie Pace, Ken Thomas and Matthew Daly of The Associated Press; by Robert Costa and Abby Phillip of The Washington Post; and by Jennifer Jacobs and Justin Sink of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 04/06/2017