As the White House trims over 100 aides from its National Security Council staff, some former officials and analysts are asking if the smaller team can meet the demands of a fast-moving and dangerous global security environment.

Roughly half of the NSC’s 350-person team will depart in what the White House is calling a ‘right-sizing’ of a historically bureaucratic body composed largely of career diplomats – many of whom are seen as out of step with the president’s agenda.

Aides originally on loan from agencies like the State Department and the Pentagon are being sent back to their home departments. Political appointees placed on administrative leave have been told the White House will find other roles for them elsewhere in the administration.

Some former NSC officials told Fox News Digital it’s too early to tell whether the overhaul will result in a more efficient agency – or one ill-equipped to deliver timely intelligence for national security decisions.

Privately, national security sources questioned whether Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is currently serving as interim national security advisor, might be paring back the agency to avoid internal power struggles once he returns to his original post.

Michael Allen, a former senior director at the NSC, said the staffing changes reflect President Donald Trump’s desire for direct control over key decisions.

‘I think he wants people to bring decisions to him earlier than previous presidents,’ Allen told Fox News Digital.

The NSC has charted rocky waters since it lost national security advisor Mike Waltz following the inadvertently publicized Signal chat. His deputy, Alex Wong, also recently departed the agency, and other aides who had a large impact on the administration’s early foreign policy decisions were pushed out in Friday’s restructuring.

Eric Trager, the senior director for Middle East issues who traveled with envoy Steve Witkoff for some of his Iran negotiations, is out. So is Andrew Peek, senior director for Europe and Eurasia, who helped coordinate the approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

Additionally, the restructuring will move Andy Barker, national security advisor to Vice President JD Vance, and Robert Gabriel, assistant to the president for policy, into roles serving as deputy national security advisors. 

‘This happens naturally on NSCs, the kind of stasis we saw in the Biden administration is highly untypical,’ said Victoria Coates, former deputy national security advisor to Trump. 

She noted that President Ronald Reagan had six national security advisors over two terms as president, in addition to two acting NSAs. 

‘For the president, he has legitimate concerns about the NSC from the first term, given what happened, and then, you know, there’s no sugar-coating it: the situation with Signalgate was a problem for NSA Waltz,’ Coates went on. ‘The president is taking actions to get the NSC into a condition that he would have complete confidence in it.’

With a slimmer NSC, the president is expected to lean more heavily on Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard for his daily intelligence briefings.

‘One thing that makes this administration unique is that it’s the president himself and a small circle of advisors who truly matter and make decisions,’ said Brian Katulis, a former NSC official and fellow at the Middle East Institute. ‘They just don’t see the need for ongoing interagency meetings like in previous administrations.’

Katulis added that the biggest risk isn’t necessarily a lack of intelligence – but a lack of coordination.

‘Rather than gaps in intel or knowledge, what I’d worry more about is whether different agencies are singing from the same sheet of music,’ he said.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment on Friday’s cuts and their intent. 

Others argue that the NSC has become bloated and is in need of a reset.

‘The NSC under Democratic presidents grows to 300, 400 people,’ said former Trump NSC official Alex Gray. ‘It becomes its own department.’

‘When I was there, we took it down to about 110 people doing policy – and it could probably go down another 50 and still be effective,’ he said.

‘Do you want an NSC that formulates and directs policy, or one that gives the president advice, lets him decide, and then implements it? You don’t need hundreds of people to do that.’

But the NSC is the primary agency tasked with making sure other agencies are in line with the president’s agenda. 

‘Rather than preparing options for him, they should take his direction and implement it,’ said Coates.  But, she added, ‘if you take it down too far, it’s not going to have the manpower to implement those directions from the White House into the departments and agencies which are always bigger and better funded than the NSC.’ 

‘How many heads do you have to bash together to get them to do what the president wants them to do? Our experience was in the first term that we needed a fair amount of heft on our end to get them to do stuff they didn’t want to do, like designate the IRGC as an FTO, for example,’ Coates added. 

Even with a leaner staff, the NSC remains responsible for managing critical global challenges – from Iran nuclear talks and the war in Ukraine to military competition with China.

That puts added pressure on Rubio, who will bear the blame if any crucial intelligence slips through the cracks.

‘The big issue is the national security advisor needs to make sure the president has all the information he needs to make a decision,’ Allen said.

Fox News’ Diana Stancy contributed to this report. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday the U.S. will begin ‘aggressively’ revoking visas of Chinese students.

‘Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, the U.S. State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,’ Rubio wrote in a statement. 

The State Department will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong.

In March, House Republicans introduced the Stop Chinese Communist Prying by Vindicating Intellectual Safeguards in Academia Act, also known as the Stop CCP VISAs Act.

In an interview with FOX Business May 12, U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., criticized providing student visas to Chinese nationals, citing a Stanford University report that uncovered the Chinese Communist Party’s alleged activity on U.S. college campuses.

The report, published by the Stanford Review, detailed an incident in which a man posing as a Stanford student targeted women at the university to gather intelligence for the Chinese Ministry of State Security.

‘How can we keep offering 300,000 student visas to Chinese nationals every year when we KNOW they are legally required to gather intelligence for the CCP? The answer is simple: we can’t,’ Moody wrote in a post on X. ‘@StanfordReview’s report on CCP espionage on campus should shock everyone and verify what I have been saying. We need to pass my STOP CCP Visas Act to protect our national security.’

Along with the new Chinese national policy, Rubio announced new visa restrictions Wednesday on foreigners ‘complicit’ in censoring Americans.

‘For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights,’ Rubio wrote in a post. ‘Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans.

‘Free speech is essential to the American way of life – a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority.’

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

House Republicans are mounting a push to start a new select committee focused on investigating the Biden administration for allegedly ‘covering up’ signs of the 82-year-old former president’s decline.

Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., is introducing legislation Thursday that would establish a panel of congressional investigators to ‘investigate and report upon the facts of President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.’s cognitive and physical health decline and the potential concealment of information from the American public,’ according to bill text obtained by Fox News Digital.

As of Thursday morning, the resolution had four co-sponsors in addition to Carter: Reps. Mark Alford, R-Mo., John Rose, R-Tenn., Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., and Barry Moore, R-Ala.

Republicans have unleashed a tidal wave of scrutiny on the previous Democrat White House as new reports – as well as old concerns previously dismissed by mainstream media – surface about Biden’s mental state while in office and what lengths those closest to him took to allegedly hide it from others. 

Carter’s text calls to investigate former Vice President Kamala Harris and former first lady Jill Biden as well as whoever took part in keeping the audio tapes of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interview with Biden from the public.

The select committee would also focus on whether Biden allies ‘concealed’ his prostate cancer diagnosis before it was announced publicly last week. 

Biden’s spokesperson denied prior knowledge of the diagnosis in a statement to the New York Times.

The resolution also specifically called for a probe into the use of the autopen in Biden’s White House to sign meaningful legislation.

‘This is potentially the biggest political scandal of our lifetime, and the American people deserve to know the truth about who was really running the White House during Biden’s tenure as president,’ Carter told Fox News Digital of his legislation.

‘From using the autopen to pardon his own family members to likely concealing a cancer diagnosis, our government must restore trust with the public by fully investigating the former administration’s lies and getting to the bottom of one of the most consequential coverups in history.’

Carter, who is currently running for Senate in Georgia, was among several Republicans who demanded Biden take a cognitive test last year.

‘The American people can no longer be left to wonder about their safety and security because of the President’s deteriorating mental state,’ Carter wrote in a June 2024 letter to the White House.

His new resolution comes on the heels of House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., opening his own investigation into revelations surrounding Biden’s cognitive decline.

Comer spent much of the last Congress investigating whether Biden and his family unjustly profited from foreign cash.

The House Oversight chair sent letters to former senior White House aides, including Biden’s doctor, Kevin O’Connor, announcing a probe into ‘the role of former senior Biden White House officials in possibly usurping authority from former President Joe Biden and the ramifications of a White House staff intent on hiding his rapidly worsening mental and physical faculties.’

Meanwhile, first-term Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., called for a similar select committee on Wednesday.

House Republicans are celebrating Medicaid reform in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which the House GOP says eliminates waste, fraud and abuse to deliver for Americans who need coverage most. 

Meanwhile, Democrats have railed against possible Medicaid cuts since President Donald Trump was elected in November. Now that his ‘big, beautiful bill’ has passed in the House of Representatives, Democrats are defining Medicaid cuts as a driving issue ahead of competitive midterm elections in 2026. 

Republicans say there is more to the story. 

‘The One, Big Beautiful Bill puts Americans first. We’re securing the border. We’re protecting benefits for the most vulnerable. We are investing in American manufacturing. We’re investing in our own energy production,’ Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. 

‘The Democrats have been focusing on this specific line of attack that 13.7 million Americans are going to lose their health care, and that’s just blatantly false.’

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan analysis for the U.S. Congress, estimates that 8.6 million people in the United States will lose health insurance by 2034 through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s Medicaid reform. 

‘Five million of those people are receiving a tax credit under the Affordable Care Act that was passed by the Democrats with a sunset date that was implemented by the Democrats. We’re simply allowing the sunset date to expire as the Democrats originally intended,’ Houchin said. 

CBO estimates that 13.7 million Americans will lose coverage by 2034, which also includes the 5 million Americans who were already set to lose coverage. A number of Democrats have already deployed the figure in campaign messages rejecting Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ passing in the House.

‘I don’t trust the CBO score, nor should the American people, because it’s been proven again and again to be wildly off,’ added Houchin, who served on three major committees leading budget markup, including the House Rules, Budget and Energy and Commerce committees. 

The American Accountability Foundation, a conservative government research nonprofit, found that of the 32 staff members on CBO’s Health Analysis Division, 26 of them have ‘clearly’ verified liberal partisan biases, as a Democrat donor, registered Democrat or a Democratic primary voter, as Fox News Digital reported this month. 

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act does not cut Medicaid for the most vulnerable, according to Houchin. Instead, she says targeting waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program cuts benefits to illegal immigrants, those ineligible to receive benefits who are currently receiving benefits, duplicate enrollees in one or more states and those who are able-bodied but are choosing not to work. 

‘If you have to think about the four things that we’re doing in Medicaid to strengthen it, we’re removing anybody that is illegal, ineligible or duplicate, and we’re ensuring that able-bodied adults, on the expansion population, have a very modest work requirement, in exchange for receiving benefits. Those things are overwhelmingly supported by the American people, yet the Democrats continue to lie about what this bill is actually doing,’ Houchin said. 

Republicans say they are cleaning up the program to ensure working families and the most vulnerable Americans can rely on the program for generations to come. 

‘What we’re trying to do is protect precious Medicaid dollars for those who need it most,’ Houchin said. ‘That’s what we’re doing. No one in the traditional Medicaid population needs to worry. And even if you’re in the able-body expansion population, there are many opportunities to comply to participate in Medicaid.’

However, Democrats have already designated Medicaid cuts as a defining issue in 2026. 

‘House Republicans’ giant tax scam will kick millions of people off their health insurance,’ Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) spokesperson Viet Shelton told Fox News Digital. ‘It is fact. Independent analysts say it. Health care professionals say it. Hell, even Republican senators say so. Their saying anything to the contrary is just them trying to protect their already in danger majority.’

After weeks of negotiating through budget reconciliation, House Republicans finally reached a consensus and passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last week. The bill passed just 215 to 214, and all Democrats voted against it. Republicans’ slim majority managed to deliver a legislative win for Trump. 

However, the ‘big, beautiful’ fight is far from over as the Senate is tasked with drafting their own version of the bill. Senate Republicans have indicated they do not support the bill in its current form. 

‘I don’t want to see rural hospitals close their doors because funding got cut. I also don’t like the idea of a hidden tax on the working poor. That’s why I’m a NO on this House bill in its current form,’ Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said. 

The sweeping, multitrillion-dollar legislation advances Trump’s agenda on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt. The bill includes Trump’s key campaign promises, including no tax on tips and overtime, and it seeks to permanently extend his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. 

‘By passing the largest cut to Medicaid in history, Republicans are ripping away health care from millions of Americans and levying a de facto hidden tax on working-class families,’ DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said in a statement after the bill passed. ‘Now that vulnerable Republicans are on the record voting for it, this betrayal of the American people will cost them their jobs in the midterms and Republicans the House Majority come 2026.’

While Democrats target vulnerable Republicans for supporting Medicaid reform in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ Republicans are taking aim at Democrats for voting against the bill’s tax cuts.

‘House Democrats voted for the largest tax increase in generations while giving taxpayer-funded freebies to illegal immigrants. The NRCC will make sure voters don’t forget how they betrayed working families,’ National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

As House members return to their home states and communicate with constituents during the congressional recess, the NRCC is encouraging House Republicans to go on the offense on Medicaid reform. 

‘We’re encouraging all of our caucus, our conference members to continue to communicate with the local and national media to reiterate what we know to be true about this One Big Beautiful Bill,’ Houchin said. 

‘It puts Americans first and will ensure that these programs will be around for the next generation, because we’re not wasting any tax dollars, any precious benefits on people who are illegal, ineligible, enrolled in multiple states or are able-bodied and could be working. These programs were designed for our most vulnerable Americans, and the One Big Beautiful Bill protects benefits for those people.’

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.