Tag: Trump National Security Council

Under O’Brien, N.S.C. Carries Out Trump’s Policy, but Doesn’t Develop It

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — When President Trump’s national security adviser, Robert C. O’Brien, convenes meetings with top National Security Council officials at the White House, he sometimes opens by distributing printouts of Mr. Trump’s latest tweets on the subject at hand.

The gesture amounts to an implicit challenge for those present. Their job is to find ways of justifying, enacting or explaining Mr. Trump’s policy, not to advise the president on what it should be.

That is the reverse of what the National Security Council was created to do at the Cold War’s dawn — to inform and advise the president on national security decisions. But under Mr. O’Brien, the White House’s hostage negotiator when Mr. Trump chose him to succeed John R. Bolton in September, that dynamic has often been turned on its head. Continue reading.

At the National Security Council, Trump loyalists are at war with career aides

Washington Post logoA scheme to pressure Ukraine was the byproduct of an office divided against itself.

When President Trump’s White House used its official Twitter account Tuesday to criticize Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a staffer on its own National Security Council testifying in the House impeachment inquiry, it seemed to some like a new low for Washington. But it was just another day for Trump’s NSC. The staff, which traditionally helps presidents manage the government and make foreign policy decisions, has instead become accustomed over the past three years to name-calling and accusations of disloyalty.

That’s because, more than any other place in government, Trump’s NSC has been home to a pitched and persistent battle between those dedicated to this irregular presidency and those who prefer the regular way Washington has made national security policy for decades. Trump is far from the first president to quarrel with the bureaucracy or those serving in it. But this fight has lasted longer and grown far more heated for two reasons: First, Trump brought incredibly unorthodox views to the West Wing. And second, the NSC’s power grew immensely during the post-9/11 wars, making it a force difficult to tame.

Nasty tweets are not the only consequence of the resulting breakdown. Trump’s misbegotten scheme to pressure Ukraine — in which he risked Ukrainian lives, America’s interests and his own presidency — was a byproduct of the running battle at the NSC. As the impeachment inquiry consumes Washington and crises break out around the world, the distrust at the heart of government will mean more trouble for the United States in the remainder of Trump’s presidency.

View the complete November 21 article by John Gans on The Washington Post website here.

Author of controversial Nunes memo joining National Security Council

The White House. Credit: Jabin Botsford, Getty

(CNN) — A congressional aide who was key in crafting the controversial Republican House Intelligence Committee memo that accused FBI and Justice Department officials of abusing their surveillance authority is set to join the National Security Council, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Kashyap Patel, a senior staffer for Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, has been hired to join the NSC’s International Organizations and Alliances directorate. A Trump administration official said Patel is expected to report to work at the White House on Monday.

A spokesman for the National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

View the complete February 1 article by Jeremy Diamond and Jeremy Herb on the CNN website here.