Two of the people familiar with the decision to shrink the NSC insisted it was largely rooted in both the transition to O’Brien’s leadership as well as Trump’s desire to increase efficiency at the agency, which grew under former President Barack Obama. About 310 people currently work at the NSC. -Bloomberg
The cutbacks will primarily be carried out from attrition, “as staffers return from assignments at the NSC to their home agencies,” according to the report. Many of the council’s employees are career government employees who came from the State Department, Pentagon and intelligence agencies.