Trump slashes National Security Council from 400 to 50 staff during Iran crisis

On May 23, 2025, Trump cut NSC staff from 395 to ~50 people (87% reduction) by email at 4:30 PM on a Friday, giving staff 30 minutes to leave (Bloomberg, NPR, Washington Post)

Marco Rubio became the first person since Henry Kissinger (1973-75) to hold both Secretary of State and National Security Advisor roles simultaneously (Fortune, Military.com)

Mike Waltz was removed as NSA on May 1, 2025, after accidentally adding The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a classified Signal chat about Yemen Houthi strikes on Mar. 13, 2025 (CBS News, The Hill)

NSC Middle East director Eric Trager and Israel/Iran director Merav Ceren were fired on May 23, 2025, eliminating regional expertise during Iran nuclear negotiations (Times of Israel, Jewish Insider)

The cuts came during active U.S.-Iran nuclear talks: Round 1 (Apr. 12, Oman), Round 4 (May 11, Oman), new sanctions (May 12), then mass firings (May 23) (Multiple sources)

Trump eliminated entire NSC directorates including African Affairs and Multilateral Organizations, while the Middle East section shrank from 10 staff to 5 (Foreign Policy, CNN)

The NSC staff size fell to its lowest level since the early 1990s (George H.W. Bush era: ~50 staff), below Robert O'Brien's 2020 reduction to 105-120 (Congressional Research Service, Washington Times)

Andy Baker (VP Vance's advisor) and Robert Gabriel became deputy NSAs, replacing career civil servants with Trump loyalists (CBS News, Institute for Global Affairs)