White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon listens as President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in January.
The White House announced in a presidential memorandum dated April 4 that Trump was reorganizing the NSC and Steve Bannon would no longer be on it. Bloomberg first reported the news.
"As President, my highest priority is to ensure the safety and security of the American people," the memo said.
Trump also downgraded the role of Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert, according to Bloomberg. National Intelligence Director Dan Coats and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, are back to being "regular attendees" of the NSC's principals committee, the interagency forum that deals with policy issues affecting national security.
The moves come months after Trump signed a presidential memorandum that removed some of the nation's top military and intelligence advisers as regular attendees of the NSC's principals committee and elevated Bannon to becoming a regular attendee.
A senior White House source told journalists that Bannon was only put on the NSC as a check on former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and that he only ever attended one meeting.