According to two sources who are familiar with these moves, two senior officials have left the White House National Security Council in the last few days. This is the latest departures from a body which has seen its size reduced dramatically in the past months.

Sources who asked to remain anonymous in order to discuss sensitive personnel matters said that both Brian McCormack and Ian Bennitt - the NSC chief of staff and senior director for maritime capacity and industrial capability - left the NSC last week.

Sources said that Bennitt will be leaving for the private sector. McCormack, on the other hand, is slated to take over as chief of staff to Republican Senator Bill Hagerty. Hagerty is a Trump ally.

Hagerty’s office announced last week that McCormack was soon to take over the role of chief of staff for the Senator, which indicated his imminent departure from NSC. Bennitt’s departure was not previously reported. The immediate impact of the changes on national security policy is not known, but the departures come after multiple rounds of firings which have sometimes harmed morale and made the NSC look like a shell. According to people who are familiar with the changes, some sections of the NSC were eliminated while others, such as those responsible for the Middle East and Africa, have been merged.

Few senior officials who were hired by President Donald Trump at the start of his administration are still there. McCormack, Bennitt and other senior officials were the last to remain.

Bennitt’s departure is especially significant, given that the Trump administration has focused on reviving the U.S. Navy as well as rebuilding the nation's maritime capability. Trump signed a bipartisan executive order in April to revive domestic shipbuilding. The goal was to reduce China's dominance of the global shipping industry. The White House cited the NSC's establishment of a maritime division as proof of its commitment to this industry.

The Wall Street Journal reported that five of the seven employees had left this office by early July.

An official at the White House said that maritime affairs are now being given more attention at both the State Department and the Office of Management and Budget. This is a separate White House department which helps determine the president's priorities and the best way to fund them.

Anna Kelly, White House spokesperson did not comment directly on the departures but said the administration was still focused on shipbuilding.

She said that President Trump prioritizes this industry in order to strengthen the economy and national security of our country. The turmoil at the NSC started in late March or early April when right-wing influencer Laura Loomer gave Trump a list of officials who she believed to be unloyal. Mike Waltz was fired as Trump's national security adviser in May. He lost his standing after accidentally adding a journalist into a group chat on an upcoming bombing campaign in Yemen.

After a steady stream of firings through the spring, an all-out purge of NSC employees at various levels was carried out in late May. The Trump administration fired almost all NSC employees from the former administration of Joe Biden upon taking office in early January. This meant that the subsequent purges were aimed at people who the White House had hired.

According to several U.S. government officials, the NSC has taken a backseat to the Pentagon and other agencies, including the State Department, in formulating and coordinating national security policies. According to sources, in recent weeks the NSC began to hire some people to try to rebuild. Senior departures may make it difficult for the administration to quickly fill ranks.

Two sources have said that the voluntary departure of additional NSC employees is expected to occur in the next few days. (Reporting and editing by Don Durfee, Deepa Babington, and Gram Slattery)

(source: Reuters)