For decades, US presidents have relied on a robust team of foreign policy experts to navigate complex negotiations and global conflicts. President Donald Trump, however, has taken a different approach: he has dismissed them.

US President Donald Trump at the White House in March. Photo: Reuters

US President Donald Trump at the White House in March. Photo: Reuters

As President Trump delves into perhaps the most challenging negotiation of his term, aiming to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, he has dismantled much of the apparatus designed to provide him with information about Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump has reduced staffing at the National Security Council (NSC) by over 50%. This council, comprised of analysts, has guided US foreign policy for decades. He has also removed numerous experts from intelligence agencies due to their involvement in the nearly decade-long investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US election.

The president has accused these experts of being part of a "deep state" seeking to obstruct his agenda. He has expressed confidence that his personal relationship with his Russian counterpart can facilitate a peace agreement in Ukraine.

"I think he wants to make a deal because of me, you know, crazy as that sounds," Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week at the White House.

As Russia intensifies its missile and drone strikes on Ukraine, Trump has chosen to rely primarily on himself and a small circle of close allies, including friends from the business world, to strategize against Moscow.

This action reflects a pattern in Trump's governing style, where he reshapes the government apparatus to suit his desires rather than allowing officials, experts, and advisors to debate policy or offer independent counsel.

While the president describes his recent diplomatic efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict as highly effective, publicly, the prospects for a ceasefire or peace agreement remain distant.

A White House official argues that Trump is achieving results through direct leader-to-leader negotiations, rather than adopting the approach of his predecessors, who relied on hundreds of researchers and advisors. The official also stated that Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy, has spent hours speaking with President Putin.

Trump has expressed deep distrust of the NSC since the early days of his first term, believing that the national security "brain trust" was trying to undermine him. The current NSC downsizing was proposed by former National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien, who argued that the organization needed to be restructured to better serve the president's policy goals.

"In President Trump's first term, when we cut the unnecessarily bloated Obama-era NSC policy staff by half, the NSC became more effective, leak-free, and achieved major policy wins for the president," O'Brien said.

"The second-term downsizing efforts have produced similar results," he added, citing the summit between President Trump and President Putin in Alaska and the meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House.

The downsizing of experts continued last week, with National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard announcing the revocation of security clearances for 37 current and former officials. At least three of these current officials worked on Russia-related issues.

Gabbard then announced the near-total shutdown of the Center for Malign Foreign Influence, an agency established by Congress to coordinate intelligence efforts to monitor interference activities by Russia and other countries.

Last year, the center held meetings with media and government officials to warn about foreign threats to the US election. However, many Republicans were angered by suggestions that their supporters were being influenced by Russia. As a result, the Trump administration began scaling back most efforts to track and warn about foreign influence campaigns.

Representative Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said intelligence professionals are being forced out and those who remain “have gotten a very clear message” about what they should say. He said the intelligence community’s “ability to gather information and analyze it objectively” is being systematically degraded and this “will undoubtedly make our country less safe and less free.”

"The administration is operating without expert input," observed Evelyn N. Farkas, executive director of the McCain Institute at Arizona State University, noting that the dismissed national security professionals "had a lot of intelligence on Russia."

Senior Trump administration officials deny that expertise on Russia is being lost, asserting that the current dismissals are focused on analysts deemed weak by Gabbard. They note that an excessive focus on Moscow while neglecting other foreign policy challenges is a mistake.

US President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, on 15/8. Photo: AP

US President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, on 15/8. Photo: AP

Joel Willett, a former CIA officer and NSC staffer, was among the 37 individuals whose security clearances were revoked last week. This means he can no longer work on classified government contracts.

In a social media post, right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer said she reported Willett because he signed a letter calling for Trump's impeachment in 2019. She added that Willett is considering seeking the Democratic nomination for the Kentucky Senate seat being vacated by former Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

Willett maintains that Loomer's social media post contains misinformation. However, he said the larger issue is that removing experts on Russia and other national security matters will significantly hinder the government's ability to advise the president.

Willett served in the NSC under President Barack Obama. He expressed disappointment that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, acting as National Security Advisor, reduced the size of the organization.

"We live in an interconnected age, and global threats are rapidly changing," he said. "I've always valued having dedicated, professional experts in government, and the president being able to access them for policy recommendations. But I think what we’re seeing is an administration that really doesn’t value expertise, because the president sees himself as the smartest person in the room."

Democratic Senator Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, expressed concern that the administration is losing experts the country desperately needs at this critical time.

"Moscow remains one of our most formidable adversaries," Warner said, accusing Russia of election interference and continuous cyberattacks against the US. "At the very moment we need our best experts on the front lines, the administration is pushing them out for a variety of reasons, revoking their clearances and making Americans less safe."

The list of dismissed personnel released by Gabbard also includes a senior CIA analyst on Russia. At the National Intelligence Council, the intelligence analysis coordination body within Gabbard’s office, the acting chairman and deputy were removed earlier this year.

Last week, despite objections from senior officials, Gabbard ordered the dismissal of a senior data scientist at the National Security Agency (NSA). Former officials say the firing will have far-reaching impacts on the NSA's ability to keep pace with China's technological advances in encryption, quantum computing, and AI.

The scientist was fired simply because he held a senior intelligence position monitoring cyberspace operations in 2016, when the assessment of Russia's influence campaign on the US presidential election was drafted.

Former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos, who led the agency’s clandestine operations in Europe and Russia, said that in addition to pushing out numerous experts, the administration’s actions are causing other problems.

"What concerns me is the disregard for the objectivity of the analysis," Polymeropoulos said.

He said that President Trump does not want to hear intelligence reports about Russia’s actions, and Loomer is trying to remove from government any national security officials who have worked on Russia-related issues.

"The entire principle of the intelligence community speaking truth to power is gone when it’s overly politicized," Polymeropoulos emphasized. "These things will have real consequences."

Vu Hoang (According to AP, AFP, Reuters)