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Title: Trump Clears Out Senior National Security Officials, Shifting President’s Picks to Key Positions
URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/16/us/politics/trump-national-nuclear-security-administration-employees-firings.html
Editorial Staff: Sara Fischer, Jonathan Allen
Keywords: Politics, Trump administration, National Security, Firings
Excerpt: In this article, Jonathan Allen describes President Trump’s recent removal of key officials in the Nuclear Security Council. Allen explains how Trump’s choices to replace the professors and scholars appointed by the previous administration with “more reliably conservative” figures is a significant shift.
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President Trump’s National Security Council Shakeup
President Donald Trump has replaced several high-ranked officials in the National Security Council, a move that will put his own picks in control of crucial nuclear policy decisions. According to an article in The New York Times, the President hired former diplomats in more senior roles, replacing professors and scholars appointed by his predecessor Barack Obama with “more reliably conservative figures.” Trump dismissed the chief weapons expert and the top Middle East specialist earlier this month, and Robert Joseph, the former head of anti-proliferation efforts, will become his deputy for arms control and disarmament. The President also chose former intelligence officials to head the Nuclear Security Council.
Shifting President’s Picks to Key Positions
In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said that “President Trump is committed to protecting the homeland and national security interests of [the] United States.” According to The New York Times, the push to hire more conservative figures in positions of great responsibility infuriated former Obama staff members. James Acton, a researcher in nuclear policy, told reporters that “removing these positions — created explicitly to address the threat of Al Qaeda’s nuclear program — is a significant mistake.”
Faculty Criticisms and White House Response
Some faculty experts criticized Trump’s approach. For example, Andrea D. Goldstein, a professor at the Law School at Yale University, warned President Trump that his withdrawal from the international nuclear deal would only worsen the problem. She said that the decision “will certainly hurt US-Iran relations, make Iran potentially more dangerous….” and “set US foreign policy back decades.” Amos Yadlin, the executive director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security, added that “Improving America’s ability to effectively limit and control nuclear weapons is crucial to the mission of nuclear security.”
Reliably Conservative Figures in Nuclear Policy
President Trump’s choices to replace Obama’s finest with “more reliably conservative figures” in nuclear policy have criticized discussions of arms control with adversaries. Robert Joseph, President Trump’s new deputy for arms control and disarmament, and his predecessor, Rose Gottemoeller, share a common conservative viewpoint. This, however, comes at a cost. For instance, Herzog Hezi, a professor of chemistry and a donor to the Trump campaign, is more interested in job creation than targeting terrorist states. Many faculty experts worry that the shift towards nuclear policy will hurt critical areas such as education, and healthcare.
Trump’s National Security Council Shakeup
Read more about President Donald Trump’s recent changes to the National Security Council (NSC) and the implications for nuclear policy, as reported by The New York Times on February 16, 2025.
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Last Updated: February 16, 2025
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