Story highlights McFarland intends to continue working at the NSC in the short term

Dina Powell's role as deputy national security adviser for strategy 'will probably expand,' an NSC official said

(CNN) K.T. McFarland, the one-time top deputy to ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn, has accepted the US ambassadorship to Singapore and will likely leave the National Security Council in the coming months, a senior administration official has told CNN.

"She is going to do it, assuming she gets confirmed," the official said.

McFarland intends to continue working at the NSC in the short term, but the official said she is unlikely to stay at the NSC all the way until her confirmation, which could be months away.

"She isn't leaving immediately," the official said.

The official cast the move as a "promotion" for McFarland, but it has been well-known inside the NSC that her hold on the deputy job was tenuous.

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