House Republicans will offer a proposal this week to cut staff at the National Security Council, a move aimed at curtailing micromanagement of leaders at the Pentagon.
The proposal will come from House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry, a Republican from Texas. Aides told the Washington Post it will seek to bring the number of staffers “well below” the current level of 400, and subject the president’s national security adviser to confirmation by the Senate.
All three of President Obama’s former Defense secretaries have credited the agency with causing problems for military leaders.
“I told my combatant commanders and field commanders … if you get calls from … the president, that’s one thing,” former Secretary Robert Gates said on Fox News in April. “But if you get a call from some White House or National Security Council staffer, you tell them to call me instead, and then tell them, by the way, go to hell … directly from the secretary of defense.”
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2587908
Gates’ successors, Leon Panetta and former Sen. Chuck Hagel, had similar criticisms, and blamed the council for leading the White House to bungled approaches in countries like Egypt, Syria and Ukraine.
Thornberry said that he hopes to use the $610 billion defense authorization bill to increase the term of the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman from two years to four, as well as elevating the status of Cyber Command within the Pentagon. Democrats have not said whether they will oppose Thornberry’s proposal.
