Trump-Russia Ties Infographic

What Even is the Principals Committee?

What Even is the National Security Council?

by Whitney Ahn

        The National Security Council, aka NSC, aka Principals Committee, was established right after WWII to ensure that every administration had access to a solid national security policy-making process. Until Trump, it included, among others the President, Vice President, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the National and Homeland Security Advisors, UN Ambassador, and Secretaries of State, Defense, the Treasury, Homeland Security, and Energy (there's a longer list on Wikipedia).

        Donald Trump has decided to, for better or for worse, up-end this entire system by removing the DNI, former Senator Dan Coats (R-IN) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, and adding the Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon. This effectively removes the sole military and intelligence advisers from the NSC and replaces them with Steve Bannon.

        Many Republican policymakers, notably including Sen. McCain, have criticized this move, saying that the move was confusing and unprecedented. In defense of Bannon's addition to the council, some have said that past people with Bannon's position, such as the Bush administration's Karl Rove and the Obama administration's David Axelrod, have attended the NSC. However, neither served in any official capacity on the NSC and both have stated that they were barred from entering any meeting regarding national security issues, to keep a chasm between politics and national security.

        Some could argue, however, that both of the removed positions are rendered redundant by Trump's other administration picks. By selecting former DIA director Mike Flynn as his National Security Advisor, intelligence officials are represented. And, via Flynn and other former generals like Secretary Mattis and Secretary Kelly, some could even argue that the military realm is almost over-represented.

What do you think of the NSC changes? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below.

Names to Know: Michael Flynn, Jared Kushner, David Friedman, and K.T. McFarland

Names to Know: Michael Flynn, Jared Kushner, David Friedman, and K.T. McFarland

by Whitney Ahn

These are shorter pieces of our Names to Know series, for officials either less prominent or for whom there is less information about.

Mike Flynn
        Former Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn grew up in a blue-collar family of Democrats, and grew up to be every Democrat's worst nightmare. Donald Trump selected him to be his National Security Advisor, the highest-ranking security official in America that doesn't have to be confirmed by the Senate. He co-wrote (though some say his role in authoring it was limited) an interesting and extremely well-publicized paper about American intelligence agencies, saying that they fail to think about cultural context and the lot as much as they should. This paper, and its publicity, lead to his appointment as the director of the DIA, the military equivalent of the better-know civilian agency, the CIA. In 2014, Director Flynn said that the United States is at a greater risk of terrorism than it was before 9/11. Shortly after, mostly in part due to his incredibly troubled reign at the DIA, he was forced to resign. He was essentially laughed out of Washington, and no one ever expected to hear from him again. But becoming one of the few Republican figures willing to work with Trump early on, Flynn gained the now-President's ear and trust, and is now back in D.C. His support for Trump was so fiery that he became a demouge-like figure to the left after his speech at the Republican National Convention, where he shouted that Hillary Clinton should be locked up. After all, he had no positive reputation in Washington to lose, and the power of this endorsement could not be nearly as effective if it were for any other candidate.

Jared Kushner
        Being named as a high-ranking advisor to Donald Trump caused Kushner, his son-in-law, to be the target of a number of questions regarding its legality in relation to nepotism laws. Kushner is best known as a real estate investor and husband of the much more prominent and widely beloved Ivanka Trump. For some reason, possibly because he is Jewish and Mr. Trump has a history of appointing people to jobs they are inexperienced for because their race or religion is perceived as being relevent to issues the job surrounds (see neurosurgeon Ben Carson as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development), Kushner is expected to be working on brokering peace between Israel and Palestine, as opposed to his Secretary of State pick, oil tycoon Rex Tillerson, or Ambassador to Israel, bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman, whose jobs now place this issue directly into their responsibilities. Speaking of...

David Friedman
        David Friedman handled Donald Trump's abnormally large number of bankruptcies and in return, he has been nominated to be the American Ambassador to Israel. Friedman is yet another controversial pick, due to comments he made that compared any Jewish person who is not a conservative to Jews who helped the Nazis in the Holocaust. This obviously angered the more left-leaning, as well as moderate, members of the government. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is widely known as one of the most right-wing heads of state in the world, publicly expressed support for the nominee for the ambassadorship.

K.T. McFarland
        K.T. McFarland is Donald Trump's Deputy National Security Advisor, which is not a Senate-confirmed position, and is notable for being one the few administration officials who undebatably have qualifications that are specific to her job. She received the highest civilian honor possible from the Department of Defense, the Distinguished Civilian Award. She has served in the Kissinger and Reagan administrations, and has commentated on Fox News. She's not considered by some major foreign policy figures such as Kori Schake (a Republican, and former advisor to John McCain), but all the same, she has more experience than the typical Trump nominee.