A couple of weeks before starting his tenure as the new White House national security adviser, Mike Waltz made clear that he had ambitious plans. In comments to Breitbart News, a prominent conservative outlet, the Florida Republican suggested that he’d oust everyone from the National Security Council who wasn’t a political appointee, so that Donald Trump could be assured that everyone on the NSC was “100% aligned” with the MAGA agenda.
“In terms of the detailees,” Waltz added, referring to career officials, “they’re all going to go back.”
Evidently, he was quite serious. The Washington Post reported:
National security adviser Michael Waltz has authorized a ‘full review’ of dozens of career officials who staff the White House on issues including Iranian and North Korean nuclear proliferation, cyberespionage, and Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to his spokesman. … The officials, known as aides or detailees, were told Wednesday in a brief call conducted by Waltz’s chief of staff, Brian McCormack, that they were to leave the building immediately.
According to the Post’s reporting, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, these officials were given instructions “to return only if asked” by Trump-appointed supervisors.
When Waltz first signaled that this was likely to happen, Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, warned in a written statement, “Replacing the experts on the council with political cronies threatens our national security and our ability to respond quickly and effectively to the ongoing and very real global threats in a dangerous world. Partisan loyalty tests have no place in national security.”
It appears Team Trump has come to a very different conclusion. An Associated Press report recently added that such an NSC purge “could deprive Trump’s team of considerable expertise and institutional knowledge at a time when the U.S. is grappling with difficult policy challenges in Ukraine, the Mideast and beyond. Such questioning could also make new policy experts brought in to the NSC less likely to speak up about policy differences and concerns.” As for the motivation for such a move, the Post’s report added that these provocative developments reflect Trump’s “suspicion of career NSC officials … probably stemming in part from his experience with Alexander Vindman, who was an Army lieutenant colonel detailed to the NSC as director of European affairs. In July 2019, Vindman reported to officials his concern about Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, leading to Trump’s impeachment later that year.” In other words, an NSC official who heard Trump abuse his power, led to the president being held politically accountable for wrongdoing. Going forward, if the National Security Council is limited to like-minded loyalists, no one will object to Trump’s possible wrongdoing over the next four years.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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