Jan 30, 2017In a well-run administration, the most important role of the NSC and the national security adviser is to engage the key responsible officials and repositories of expertise, and assure that the president understands their views prior to making his decisions.… To date the president seems to have little interest in it.
↩︎ Politico Magazine
Steve Bannon's appointment to the National Security Council is worrying.
- With Bannon's new gig, the National Security Council becomes a political pawn. Updated Jan 30, 2017 ago
- This weekend's events—Muslim ban and NSC reorganization, among other things—was a trial balloon for a coup, writes a Google privacy engineer.
- Trump considers Bannon's national security views more important than a four-star general's.
The National Security Council is now a political pawn for Trump, Bannon, and Republicans.
As Goldman Sachs banker-turned-Hollywood producer-turned-Breitbart neo-Nazi-in-chief Stephen Bannon ascends to the National Security Council—previously an extremely apolitical body meant to advise the President on national security, as well as approve drone strikes—it's worth looking back at how Republicans acted when President Obama did nothing more than… not reform it quickly enough.
See also: Former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice's response to Bannon's appointment:
This is stone cold crazy. After a week of crazy. Who needs military advice or intell to make policy on ISIL, Syria, Afghanistan, DPRK? https://t.co/Mmyc139w3M
— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) January 29, 2017
Jan 30, 2017The regime’s main organizational goal right now is to transfer all effective power to a tight inner circle, eliminating any possible checks from either the Federal bureaucracy, Congress, or the Courts. Departments are being reorganized or purged to effect this.
↩︎ Yonatan Zunger
The White House considers Bannon's national security views more important than a four-star general's.
Trump's reorganization of the NSC not only put political hack Bannon at the same level as cabinet secretaries (and above them, in some cases), but it also removed the two people most important to its workings (and required to attend by law), the Director of National Intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates points out.
Former Defense Sec. Bob Gates calls sidelining DNI, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs from NSC meetings a "big mistake" https://t.co/cgE5F9sj87 pic.twitter.com/UuviVjcU1E
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 29, 2017
Sean Spicer responded to criticisms that Bannon had been elevated over Joseph Dunford, a four-star general who now serves as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, by pointing out that Bannon served in the Navy in the '70s and '80s.
It remains to be seen how far Bannon's love for Putin goes, but this does not bode well.
Bannon's appointment to the National Security Council is possibly just the beginning of four years of Soviet-style politicking.
The Editors' Longreads Picks
- An excellent essay on poverty and writing by Starr Davis. Updated May 31, 2022
- Novelist Héctor Tobar tries to understand the 1992 Los Angeles riots through the experiences of a single high school.
- Steven Johnson with a long assessment of the current state of A.I. and language. (The illusion has gotten very good.)
Welcome to The Morning News Tournament of Books, 2017 edition.
- Our championship match is decided in the Tournament of Books, with news of a Rooster surprise debuting this summer. Updated Mar 31, 2017
- In Thursday's action, Reyhan Harmanci sets up a colossal final.
- The Zombie round opens with Buzzfeed's Isaac Fitzgerald reading The Nix and The Underground Railroad.
Все ваши Белый дом принадлежит нам.
- "Will Putin expose the failings of American democracy or will he inadvertently expose the strength of American democracy?" Updated Mar 3, 2017
- Wilbur Ross just wanted to make some money in ethically gray areas (that should've prevented him from taking office).
- Jeff Sessions's spokeswoman can't help but continue to lie.
The oceans are under assault, and not just from the White House and friends.
- Trump's assault on the environment begins with American headwaters. Updated Mar 1, 2017
- Don't just blame the oil companies for destroying the oceans—blame sushi restaurants.
- Nothing escapes the deepest trenches of the ocean floor. Not light, not nutrients, not pollutants.