National Security Council - DNI and CJCS out, Bannon in

[adwinistrator]

In National Security Presidential Memorandum 2, President Trump restructured the National Security Council, removing the the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's permanent status on the Principals Committee, and adding White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon.

From The Guardian - Trump gives National Security Council seat to ex-Breitbart chief Steve Bannon:

President Donald Trump granted controversial adviser Steve Bannon a regular seat at meetings of the National Security Council on Saturday, in a presidential memorandum that brought the former Breitbart publisher into some of the most sensitive meetings at the highest levels of government.

The president named Bannon to the council in a reorganization of the NSC. He also said his chief-of-staff Reince Priebus would have a seat in the meetings.

Trump also said the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the director of national intelligence, two of the most senior defense chiefs, will attend meetings only when discussions are related to their “responsibilities and expertise”.

From Chicago Tribune - Trump orders ISIS plan, gives Bannon role in revamped National Security Council:

Counseling Trump in the effort will be Stephen Bannon, the White House chief strategist whose influence inside the administration is expanding far beyond politics. In an executive order, Trump reorganized the National Security Council to, along with other changes, give Bannon a regular seat on the principals committee - the meetings of the most senior national security officials, including the secretaries of defense and state.

Trump's order also states that the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs will sit on the principals committee only when the issues to be discussed pertain to their "responsibilities and expertise." In the previous two administrations, both were included as regular attendees.

The White House thinks the changes will make the NSC more adaptive to modern threats. Trump said the changes would bring "a lot of efficiency and, I think, a lot of additional safety."

I do not think the changes to the NSC will bring about additional safety.

The top military advisor and the top intelligence advisor, who could explain why an assessment on intel is wrong and why the goals/strategy for military force is wrong are no longer able to contribute in these discussions, unless they are invited.

This is a very precarious situation for the president to be in when making decisions based on the advice from the council. Flynn and Bannon have Trump's ear, and their analysis will be regarded as accurate unless there are others with better analysis and arguments able to present their views.

I think Trump has been sealed up in a bubble by those he trusts so that they can control him by controlling the intel and analysis he is presented.

Consider that this is how Cheney and Rumsfeld got Bush on board with the Iraq war. They had their people presenting "inappropriate intelligence analysis" that was not developed by the Intelligence Community, which included a slide about *why* the Intelligence Community is wrong. I can see a very similar situation being possible here.

[Ex-California]

The Intelligence Community has caused more destabilization and dangerous problems since it was converted from the OSS to CIA than what would have happened if they never existed

[Dand]

This sounds fantastic and I hoped he would do this but didn't expect it. I trust Bannon a whole lot more than Clapper

[adwinistrator]

The Intelligence Community has caused more destabilization and dangerous problems since it was converted from the OSS to CIA than what would have happened if they never existed

So the Director of National Intelligence shouldn't be part of the NSC Principals Committee?

What about the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?

The White House National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for consideration of national security and foreign policy matters with senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials and is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Since its inception under Harry S. Truman, the function of the Council has been to advise and assist the president on national security and foreign policies. The Council also serves as the president's principal arm for coordinating these policies among various government agencies. The Council has counterparts in the national security councils of many other nations.

The National Security Council was created in 1947 by the National Security Act. It was created because policymakers felt that the diplomacy of the State Department was no longer adequate to contain the USSR in light of the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. The intent was to ensure coordination and concurrence among the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and other instruments of national security policy such as the Central Intelligence Agency.

It seems to me like the NSC Principle Committee should include the highest-ranking and senior most military officer in the United States Armed Forces, and the principal advisor to the President, and offices of NSC and HSC, about intelligence matters related to national security.

This sounds fantastic and I hoped he would do this but didn't expect it. I trust Bannon a whole lot more than Clapper

James Clapper is not the DNI. Mike Dempsey is acting DNI, and Dan Coats was nominated to be DNI pending Senate approval.

[adwinistrator]

I'll detail how the NSC has worked in President Obama's administration, and how this change will worsen the ability of President Trump to be fully advised by the top military and intelligence advisors in the government.

While the NSC has Principle Committee that should be in every meeting, that is not how it really works in a day to day capacity:

In practice, Presidential administrations tend to be unconcerned with whether the membership of a meeting constitutes an “official NSC” meeting, or whether all statutory, designated, or invited members are actually present. The participants in meetings at all levels are dictated by the requirements of the policy issue(s) at hand. If the President (or other principal) is needed, he will be present. If not, then his limited discretionary time will not be diverted to attending a meeting just so all the “members” will be recorded as present.

Principle Committee members show up when they're needed, most likely using their own discretion along with feedback from the NSC office on what the meeting will be covering.

President Obama's NSC had 2 regular attendees:

• The Director of National Intelligence (as a statutory advisor)
• The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (as a statutory advisor)

Those two advisors have now been removed from the Principle Committee, and are now "Topic area invitees". They will now be invited to PC meetings as deemed appropriate

President Obama's topic area invitees included:

• The Secretary of Commerce
• The United States Trade Representative
• The Assistant to the President for Economic Policy
• Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism
• The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

It would appear that President Trump has moved the CJCS and DNI from the role of regular Principle Committee attendees (most integral in the PC), to the role of topic area invitees.

President Trump's National Security Advisor is Michael Flynn. His role is very important to the President's policy making decisions, and to how the NSC is utilized.

The National Security Advisor is the President’s personal advisor responsible for the daily management of national security affairs, and advises the President on the entirety of national security matters and coordinates the development of interagency policies.

The President alone decides national security policy, but the National Security Advisor is responsible for ensuring that the President has all the necessary information, that a full range of policy options have been identified, that the prospects and risks of each option have been evaluated, that legal and funding considerations have been addressed, that potential difficulties in implementation have been identified, and that all NSC principals have been included in the policy development and recommendation process.

Michael Flynn now has full control over whether or not the top military and intelligence advisors are involved in the process of national security policy making. He will be able to exclude them from any meeting he wishes, even if it involves their topic area, which presumably *every* National Security Council meeting should.

I can't see any way in which this does not present a very serious risk to the ability of the President to make well informed policy decisions on National Security.

Source:
Whittaker, A. G., Ph.D, Brown, S. A., Ph.D, Smith, F. C., & McKune, E. (2011). The National Security Policy Process: The National Security Council and Interagency System. Center for National Security Law.

[TheReal_ND]

Holy shit it's real. Bannon is going to make America great again...

[ssu]

Seems like Bannon and Priebus are making their move to be the Trump handlers (which Trump might need, btw).

Michael Flynn now has full control over whether or not the top military and intelligence advisors are involved in the process of national security policy making. He will be able to exclude them from any meeting he wishes, even if it involves their topic area, which presumably *every* National Security Council meeting should.

Bannon Priebus and Flynn can meet together as much as they want, but they basically are the "White House". Perhaps Trump isn't a guy who can be briefed and agreed with to do something and then does it alone in the traditional NSC with the generals. Yet at some stage the armed forces have to be involved. The idea that the Pentagon and other agencies will just take orders without any question if they go against what they collectively have in mind is not how reality works.

Yet it goes the other way around. If Bannon, a CEO of Breitbart, and Priebus take a more prominent role and isn't just "behind the curtain", they also is a possible lightning rod if something goes totally FUBAR what the NSC decides to do. Now one could look at it as a major demotion to the armed forces and the other agencies. But let's see.

Anyway, when the true crisis that hits Trump sooner or later, then and only then will we see how the whole thing works. And by the looks of it, there will be plenty of leaks and inside scoops coming from the White House just how it's going...

First book about the Trump administration will likely be out even more earlier than it was from the Clinton adminstration.

[adwinistrator]

National Security Council - DNI and CJCS in, Bannon out.

Changes:

• Steve Bannon removed from the NSC
• HSC advisor may now only convene a meeting "at the sole discresion of" the National Security Advisor, instead of "as appropriate".
• DNI and CJCS are now "regular attendees" on the NSC PC, no longer "invitees"

Hopefully, the NSC will be able to function better as a result of these changes

[clubgop]

National Security Council - DNI and CJCS in, Bannon out.

Changes:

• Steve Bannon removed from the NSC
• HSC advisor may now only convene a meeting "at the sole discresion of" the National Security Advisor, instead of "as appropriate".
• DNI and CJCS are now "regular attendees" on the NSC PC, no longer "invitees"

Hopefully, the NSC will be able to function better as a result of these changes

This was a win. In light of recent events it is quite apparent that the NSC was highly politicized in the previous administration, as everything else was. Bannon simply deoperationalized the council and handed it back to McMaster.

[ssu]

This was a win. In light of recent events it is quite apparent that the NSC was highly politicized in the previous administration, as everything else was. Bannon simply deoperationalized the council and handed it back to McMaster.

Right, believe 100% the words of the guy who just got sacked.

The line is a bit whimsical because it forgets Flynn from the picture... as if Rice would have been somehow present from the Obama cabinet. Bannon "deoperationalizing" NSC from Flynn doesn't make sense. But naturally people officially put the best of spin at this move.

Mr. Bannon resisted the move, even threatening at one point to quit if it went forward, according to a White House official who, like others, insisted on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Mr. Bannon’s camp denied that he had threatened to resign and spent the day spreading the word that the shift was a natural evolution, not a signal of any diminution of his outsize influence.

See here

Why does that sound more the realistic, that Bannon was against the move? Let's just remember:

- It was Bannon who angered the generals By moving the CJCS and DNI away. Former CJCS among others wanted Bannon out. The present CJCS basically said that they will ignore this move and participate in the NSC.

- The person before McMaster refused the position because he doubted that he could pick his team.

- McMasters wanted to oust Ezra Cohen-Watnick from the NSC as too inexperienced. Bannon - Jared line and finally Trump didn't want that. And Cohen-Watnicks involvement in the Nunes thing tells about the politisized nature of the Flynn nominee. (See here

And anyway, a political "chief strategist" had no reason to be there. It was simply going to be counterproductive. He would be there as a lightning rod. Political strategists work through their president, not be players on their own.

Seems that the usability of Bannon is waning. Bannon simply hasn't delivered Trump any of those wins and if it continues so, likely sooner or later Bannon can perhaps proclaim "Mission Accomplished" and bow out.

Anyway, full support for McMaster and his work. That McMaster meets with such a forgotten old-timer like Brent Scowcroft is good news. What Trump needs is good old realpolitik approach when it comes to the NSC.