The danger of Steve Bannon on the National Security Council

[flamingdem]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-danger-of-steve-bannon-on-the-national-security-council/2017/01/29/ba3982a2-e663-11e6-bf6f-301b6b443624_story.html?utm_term=.d95dd3318def

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The idea of the National Security Council (NSC), established in 1947, is to ensure that the president has the best possible advice from his Cabinet, the military and the intelligence community before making consequential decisions, and to ensure that, once those decisions are made, a centralized mechanism exists to guarantee their effective implementation. The NSC is effectively the central nervous system of the U.S. foreign policy and national security apparatus.

Trump’s memorandum described the structure of his NSC — not unusual given that the exact composition shifts in modest ways from administration to administration. The problem lies in the changes that he made.

First, he essentially demoted the highest-ranking military officer in the United States, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the highest-ranking intelligence officer in the United States, the director of national intelligence. In previous administrations, those positions or their equivalent (before the creation of the director of national intelligence, the CIA director occupied that role) held permanent positions on the NSC.

Now, those key officials will be invited only when their specific expertise is seen to be required. Hard as it is to imagine any situation in which their views would not add value, this demotion is even harder to countenance given the threats the United States currently faces and the frayed state of the president’s relations with the intelligence community. A president who has no national security experience and can use all the advice he can get has decided to limit the input he receives from two of the most important advisers any president could have.

The president compounded this error of structure with an error of judgment that should send shivers down the spine of every American and our allies worldwide. Even as he pushed away professional security advice, Trump decided to make his top political advisor, Stephen K. Bannon, a permanent member of the NSC. Although the White House chief of staff is typically a participant in NSC deliberations, I do not know of another situation in which a political adviser has been a formal permanent member of the council.

Further, Bannon is the precisely wrong person for this wrong role. His national security experience consists of a graduate degree and seven years in the Navy. More troubling, Bannon’s role as chairman of Breitbart.com, with its racist, misogynist and Islamophobic perspectives, and his avowed desire to blow up our system of government, suggests this is someone who not only has no business being a permanent member of the most powerful consultative body in the world — he has no business being in a position of responsibility in any government.

Worse still, it is a sign of other problems to come. Organizing the NSC this way does not reflect well on national security advisor Michael Flynn — whether the bad decision is a result of his lack of understanding of what the NSC should do or because he is giving in to pressure from his boss.

Moreover, elevating Bannon is a sign that there will be more than one senior official in Trump’s inner circle with top-level national security responsibility, an arrangement nearly certain to create confusion going forward.

Indeed, rumors are already circulating that Bannon and senior adviser Jared Kushner are the go-to people on national security issues for the administration, again despite the lack of experience, temperament or institutional support for either. Kushner has been given key roles on Israel, Mexico and China already. History suggests all this will not end well, with rivalries emerging with State, Defense, the Trade Representative and other agencies.

[dalton99a]

1. Yep. Bannon and Kushner are running the shit show.

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[marybourg]

3. This is going to be the topic of

my daily communication to my congresspersons for today. . . and maybe tomorrow. . . and the day after. This is truly scary.

[flamingdem]

5. Jared Kushner, a nobody, in charge, with knowledge of all intel and much worse

Bannon? This cannot stand. Something tells me they expect legal action from congress but I'm afraid they've thought out the angles. That or they rely on chaos as cover.

[yodermon]

4. His appointment is illegal, primae facie.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/3021

50 U.S. Code § 3021 - National Security Council
US Code

(a) Establishment; presiding officer; functions; compositionThere is established a council to be known as the National Security Council (hereinafter in this section referred to as the “Council”).

The President of the United States shall preside over meetings of the Council: Provided, That in his absence he may designate a member of the Council to preside in his place.
The function of the Council shall be to advise the President with respect to the integration of domestic, foreign, and military policies relating to the national security so as to enable the military services and the other departments and agencies of the Government to cooperate more effectively in matters involving the national security.

The Council shall be composed of—
(1) the President;
(2) the Vice President;
(3) the Secretary of State;
(4) the Secretary of Defense;
(5) the Secretary of Energy; and
(6) the Secretaries and Under Secretaries of other executive departments and of the military departments, when appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to serve at his pleasure.

HEY WAPO and MEDIA: why bother opining on how bad Bannon in instead of just pointing out that his very appointment is ILLEGAL? "Hey let's discuss the arrangement of these deck chairs!"

[flamingdem]

6. Awaiting moves from our Senators

Who is going to stick their neck out and rumble with this pos?

[marybourg]

8. I've been wondering that also.

Could it be that we here on DU are the only ones who can find a statute?

[GliderGuider]

7. Now ask yourself a question

- The Intelligence Community and the senior military have been strategically blinded by Bannon's hostile takeover of the National Security Council.
- The State Department has been decapitated by a combination of senior staff vacancies, a purge of the remaining senior staff, and the appointment of Rex Tillerson.
- The FBI has been deeply compromised.
- Congress has been bypassed.
- the courts are being ignored.

The kneecapping of the Intelligence Community, State Department , Department of Defense and the FBI, and the neutralizing of Congress have the combined effect of dramatically degrading America's ability to respond to threats, up to including at the strategic level.

The question to ask is, "Why would that be important right now?"

[flamingdem]

9. OUCH. I see your point. An action may be forthcoming to consolidate the coup

And it may not be Russian in origin. It may be another Bannon angle, but since he's a nut and believes in conspiracies etc. it could be something that will utterly shock us. His motives are insane.

[GliderGuider]

10. Precisely.

It will be big, it will be soon, and it will look like a very sophisticated jihadi terrorist strike.

[What Is Going On]

11. It's coming.

I have NO doubt that "something wicked this way comes".

[JustAnotherGen]

12. Unfortunately

Our Leadership in Federal office are not able to multi task. I'm hoping they push in the Senate to over turn Trumps 7 country muslim ban.

I can only have a small hope that they will do anything about Bannon.

[2naSalit]

13. K&R

[coco22]

14. Everybody in his cabinet..

are the wrong people in the wrong roles. I see crisis after crisis.

He will start a war and the tell us they will save us reminds me of Bush yrs on steroids,remember Cheney,McCain and John Bolton want to bomb Iran among other places.

Remember during the campaign when Trump said " I would bomb the shit out of them!" Somebody post the video.