Why the National Security Council Matters

When the next crisis hits, we’ll feel the cost of gutting it.

(I took this photo of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House, while leaving work after a long day in June 2019. I paused to take in its majestic presence, reminding myself that every day I was there, it was to serve the American people.)

During my time on the National Security Council (NSC) staff, while serving as Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, I saw firsthand how vital the NSC is to the safety and stability of our nation. However, my relationship with the NSC didn’t begin there. I’ve worked closely with it throughout my career, starting in the early 2000s. Over the years, I’ve witnessed some of the most skilled, dedicated public servants in government walk those halls. It used to be that serving on the NSC staff was one of the highest honors in public service, a role reserved for the best of the best.

The level of expertise was once unmatched. Regional specialists, career diplomats, intelligence professionals, military strategists, and legal and economic minds all worked in concert to ensure the President and Vice President were informed by real facts, grounded analysis, and strategic foresight. That's what the NSC was built for: to coordinate, not politicize; to unify, not divide; to protect, not perform.

Now? That integrity is being gutted in real-time.

According to CNN, over 100 NSC staffers were placed on administrative leave late last week. Many of them are career professionals who have served under multiple administrations. They're being pushed out and replaced by political loyalists who lack even the most basic qualifications for the roles they now occupy.

This isn’t a restructuring. It’s a purge. And it will cost us.

What the NSC Actually Does

The National Security Council serves as the strategic hub of the American government during times of calm and crisis. It is the only entity designed to cut across every major department, ensuring unity of effort, speed of action, and clarity of purpose.

It:

• Coordinates interagency policy across Defense, State, Homeland Security, Treasury, Energy, Justice, Commerce, HHS, and beyond.

• Synthesizes intelligence and threat assessments from across the Intelligence Community.

• Develops strategies on defense, foreign affairs, cybersecurity, disinformation, migration, terrorism, and disaster response.

• Prepares and provides real-time situational awareness.

• Guides diplomatic and military posture, manages crisis response and ensures continuity of government.

• Tracks and responds to foreign and domestic threats to American lives and institutions.

The NSC doesn't just manage information; it orchestrates it. When it functions as designed, it gives America the ability to respond quickly, wisely, and proportionately. But strip out the expertise, and you're left with noise, dysfunction, and delayed decisions in moments that demand precision.

Experience in national security can’t be faked. It’s forged in classified briefings, deployments, war rooms, and interagency planning sessions. The professionals who staff the NSC bring decades of institutional memory, regional knowledge, and cross-sector understanding. That matters.

You cannot improvise your way through a missile launch alert. You cannot “wing it” through a global pandemic. I saw the cost of that firsthand. When COVID-19 struck, the coordination process was ignored, the experts were sidelined, and the federal response fragmented. People died who didn’t have to. That is what happens when the NSC is sidelined.

And now, it’s happening again, with even fewer guardrails.

The Hypocrisy of the “Deep State” Narrative

And then there’s Marco Rubio.

It’s rich to hear him claim it’s Trump vs. the “deep state.” Because I remember precisely what Rubio did during Trump’s first term: he hand-picked NSC senior directors for the Western Hemisphere because he wanted control over Cuba and Venezuela policy. Not based on merit. Not based on qualifications. Based on politics.

Back then, Rubio at least still understood the policy. He grasped what Libertad meant for Venezuela. He knew why standing up to authoritarians like Nicolás Maduro mattered symbolically and strategically. But that version of Rubio is long gone. Now he’s just an empty-suit sock puppet for Trump, parroting "deep state" talking points while helping dismantle the very institutions that once upheld our global leadership.

Let's call it what it is: they don't want facts, debate, or informed dissent. They want obedience, and they want it regardless of whether the people in charge have any idea what they're doing.

And let's talk about truth. When intelligence officers and national security professionals try to do their jobs, fact-checking disinformation and correcting the record, they're labeled "deep state" traitors.

A newly declassified U.S. intelligence memo contradicted Trump’s latest fearmongering about Venezuela. It clearly states that President Nicolás Maduro is not directing Tren de Aragua, the criminal gang Trump claims is “invading” the U.S. This lie isn’t just baseless, it’s dangerous. It was crafted to stoke fear and justify extremist policies. And when professionals inside the government speak up to correct it, they’re smeared and silenced.

Telling the truth shouldn’t require courage. But in today’s White House, it does. When truth becomes a threat, the system is no longer built to protect the people, it's built to protect power.

What Happens When a Crisis Hits?

Let me be clear: there will be a crisis. Something will happen: a cyberattack, a terror threat, a foreign escalation, or a natural disaster. And when it does, we won't have the team to respond. The response will be slower, sloppier, and more dangerous. And that failure will touch every American, regardless of party.

We're already seeing the consequences. Even in red-leaning states like North Carolina, the Trump Administration has started delaying or denying disaster aid approvals. After the political theatrics during the 2024 election when he traveled to the state in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, doing his best to spread lies about FEMA’s response and claiming he’d be the savior if back in office, here we are. I lived this before. During the first Trump administration, I worked on disaster response alongside Mark Harvey, who was the NSC's Senior Director for Resilience. We fought behind the scenes to get help to Americans devastated by hurricanes, wildfires, and floods, even when Trump’s political vengeance stood in the way. We didn’t care if the governor was red or blue. We cared that people were suffering.

So if protecting all Americans in times of crisis makes you part of the so-called “deep state,” or if telling the truth is now considered disloyal, then maybe this country is in deeper trouble than we’re willing to admit.

Because what’s happening now isn’t governance. It’s sabotage.

More soon,

Olivia