Andrea Widburg writes for the American Thinker about a significant change at the top of the American national security operation.
Last week, Donald Trump and Secretary of State (and acting National Security Advisor) Marco Rubio made some drastic cuts to the National Security Council (“NSC”). Naturally, the leftists are outraged—how dare he fire the people Democrats and the Deep State put in place?—but this is exactly what presidents have long done, and that they have a complete right to do.
The NSC was created via the National Security Act if 1947. The Act’s purpose was to enhance America’s defenses by eliminating the silos that had hindered the efficient exchange of information between different branches of the military and the government during World War II.
As originally constituted, the NSC consisted of the President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board (“NSRB”). The Act also allowed (and still allows) the president to designate other officials to attend NSC meetings. The Act has been amended several times since then.
In 1949, the Act added the Vice President and removed the secretaries of the different branches of the military, leaving only the Secretary of Defense. The NSRB chairman vanished, too. By 1986, statutory amendments had updated the NSC to include the President, Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and the Director of Central Intelligence. As of now, the mandated staffing has the President, Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Treasury, and the Director of National Intelligence.
I mention all this to make the point that the statute has always envisioned the NSC consisting of a tight cadre of people, all of whom the President has nominated and all of whom have undergone Senate review. These are the President’s people, with the Senate’s imprimatur.
