National security adviser John Bolton defended his decision to eliminate a cybersecurity coordinator position at the White House, saying he “fixed” an overstaffing issue and that, “You know, the whole thing works.”
“I inherited a structure in the national security staff that was duplicative and overlapping,” Bolton told reporters in a briefing Thursday.
Bolton, who took office in April, said cutting the job in May did not negatively impact the National Security Council’s ability to craft cybersecurity policy and respond to threats.
Bolton was addressing reporters to announce President Trump’s new National Cyber Strategy, which emphasizes potential offensive cyberattacks. He defended the job cut as consistent with renewed focus on cyber threats.
“My analysis, I might say, was essentially the same as my predecessor, Gen. [H.R.] McMaster. For reasons entirely beyond his control, he was unable to fix it. The opportunity fell to me and I fixed it,” he said.
Bolton eliminated the position after former cybersecurity coordinator Rob Joyce returned in April to the National Security Agency.
Bolton said reporters and the public may not know the NSC has directorates that have policy specialties, such as Western Hemisphere affairs and cybersecurity, and that other directorates do not have a coordinator.
Directorates generally are led by one senior director and no coordinator, Bolton said. The cybersecurity directorate still has two senior directors, he said.
“Now, today, there are senior directors for cyber and no coordinator. And you know, the whole thing works,” Bolton said.
