The new cuts come after the removal last week of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, 44, and Vindman’s brother, Yevgeny Vindman, from the council. Alexander Vindman, who was detailed from the Department of Defense, testified during the impeachment inquiry against Trump; his brother was a lawyer for the council who was also detailed from the army.

The Vindmans, who served in their details for over a year, “weren’t fired,” O’Brien said, echoing previous comments from White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. “Their services were no longer needed,” he said. The removals weren’t retaliation for the testimony during the impeachment efforts. Trump did not tell officials to remove the Vindmans.

“It’s really a privilege to work in the White House. It’s not a right,” O’Brien added. “At the end of the day, the president is entitled to staffers that want to execute his policy, that he has confidence in, and I think every president’s entitled to that.”

“We’re not a banana republic where a group of Lt. Colonels get together and decide what the policy is or should be,” he said.

The reorganization was consistent with the “Scowcroft model” used by Brent Scowcroft, who served as national security adviser for Presidents Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush, according to O’Brien. The model emphasizes that the national security adviser shouldn’t “be an advocate for one policy or another.” Instead, the adviser should “ensure that the president is well served by the cabinet, departments, and agencies in obtaining counsel and formulating his policies.”

The policies are then decided on by the president and the advisor makes sure they’re carried out. . . .

“When they come to the White House, they serve as the president’s personal staff and it is our view that while they are at the National Security Council, they should not represent the views of their parent agencies or departments,” he said. “They’re not there as liaison officers, and they certainly shouldn’t represent their own personal views.”

“The president has to have confidence in the folks on his National Security Council staff to ensure that they are committed to executing the agenda that he was elected by the American people to deliver,” O’Brien said. The National Security Council shouldn’t be “a mini State Department, a mini Pentagon, a mini Department of Homeland Security.”

Bringing the number of staffers down to 110 would be closer to the number seen during the George W. Bush administration. There were some 240 policy professionals during the Obama administration and over 175 when O’Brien replaced John Bolton. If the group is too large, it doesn’t effectively serve the president, O’Brien said. The cuts would be among staffers detailed from other parts of the government.

(Excerpt from Epoch Times. Article by Zachary Stieber.)