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Decapitating the National Security Council leads to foreign policy chaos

Blunders on Ukraine and Venezuela point to dysfunction caused by Trump’s hollowing out of the NSC.

By MAX BOOT

Washington Post
July 10, 2025

There is so much happening in the Trump administration that events often pass in a blur, and their significance can’t be grasped until weeks, months or even years later. The slow-motion dismantling of the National Security Council is a case in point. At first it seemed like a minor bureaucratic blip, but now it is evident that the NSC’s weakness is contributing to incoherent U.S. policymaking on matters from Venezuela to Ukraine and beyond.