White House officials defended President Donald Trump's move to give top political strategist Stephen Bannon a permanent spot on the National Security Council while limiting the role of the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"We are instilling reforms to make sure that we streamline the process for the president to make decisions on key, important intelligence matters," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
In a presidential memorandum issued Saturday, Bannon, 63, a former executive at Breitbart News, was given a permanent spot on the NSC's principals committee, the senior-level interagency group that considers major national security policy issues. Others with permanent seats on the White House policy council include the secretary of state and secretary of defense.