The White House has begun restructuring the National Security Council (NSC) with officials seen as firmly aligned with President Trump’s agenda, following the removal of six aides earlier this month.
Derek Harvey, a retired U.S. Army colonel and military intelligence analyst, is expected to be named senior director for intelligence, replacing Brian Walsh, one of four senior directors ousted on April 3. In total, six aides were pushed out in what officials described as a move to realign the NSC with Trump’s priorities.
“Always, we’re letting go of people,” Trump told reporters when asked about the dismissals, which came in the wake of the Signal group chat controversy involving aides to National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. “People that we don’t like, or people that we don’t think can do the job, or people that may have loyalties to somebody else.”
Also under consideration for a key role is retired Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Jensen, who was nominated earlier this year for assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict. Senior officials are now discussing assigning him instead to serve as Waltz’s senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs—a position that has been vacant.
Harvey previously served on the NSC during Trump’s first term, where he oversaw Middle East affairs before being forced out by then-National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster over a clash in vision. After leaving the NSC, Harvey became a congressional aide to former Rep. Devin Nunes, then the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. He also held senior roles at the Defense Intelligence Agency and served as an adviser to retired Gen. David Petraeus and retired Army Gen. Jack Keane.
