Bannon dropped from NSC principals
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s political adviser Steve Bannon was removed from the National Security Council and replaced by Energy Secretary Rick Perry in a shakeup that also elevated military and intelligence leaders into key roles.
The decision was part of a larger reshuffling of the NSC announced in a notice published in the federal register that revamped the Principals Committee for the group. The Principals Committee is a body that considers policy solutions to national security issues, and the president has the power to change it at will.
The original NSC appointment of Bannon, the former chairman of Breitbart News, was controversial when it was announced Jan. 28. Bannon had been named to the board at a time when then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was seen as compromised. Critics of Bannon’s role were worried he would politicize a body traditionally viewed as a candid and nonpartisan source of national security information to the president.
The new NSC lineup also includes the director of national intelligence, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the director of the CIA and the ambassador to the United Nations, positions absent from Trump’s original Jan. 28 order. The changes were directed by Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who was named Trump’s national security adviser in February after Flynn was forced to resign for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about his talks with the Russian ambassador. The NSC helps determine policy positions on issues such as the recent chemical attacks in Syria and North Korea’s continued missile tests. Bannon can still sit in on meetings if invited.