Gregory Korte, and David Jackson

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Trump's decision to remove Steve Bannon from the National Security Council is not evidence of a diminished role for the controversial chief political strategist, White House officials say.

A senior White House official said that Bannon, who only attended one meeting of the council, was originally given the post as a check on former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter. Flynn was fired in February after misleading Vice President Pence about the substance of his discussions with the Russian ambassador.

Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the new national security adviser, will be given more control over the council and its agenda. Trump's decision to reorganize the principals committee came at McMaster's urging, the official said. The move also restores the director of national intelligence, CIA director, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to full participation on the Council's principals committee, the panel that Bannon previously had a seat on.

Bannon himself said in a statement released Wednesday that previous national security adviser "Susan Rice operationalized the NSC during the last administration so I was put on NSC to ensure it was 'de-operationalized.' General McMaster has NSC back to its proper function."

Administration officials said Bannon and others believe the Obama team "operationalized" the NSC, performed too many day-to-day operations of the national security apparatus, while they want to return the council to its more traditional role of gathering and providing strategic advice to the president.

In an interview with Fox News, Vice President Mike Pence said the move was not a demotion for Bannon. Instead it was "just a natural evolution to ensure the National Security Council is organized in a way that best serves the president in resolving and making those difficult decisions," Pence said.

Trump's decision in January to include Bannon in National Security Council deliberations was controversial. Although he served as a junior officer in the Navy Reserve, Bannon had little national security experience. He came to the White House via the Trump campaign and, before that, as the executive chairman of Breitbart News, a website that often gave voice to his conservative, nationalistic ideas on trade and immigration.

The Bannon move has nothing to do with Syria or any other particular policy, the White House official said. Instead it reflects McMaster's desire to organize the NSC the way he wants it — something Trump promised him when McMaster agreed to replace Flynn.

Flynn's resignation left the White House groping for a replacement. Trump first offered the job to retired vice admiral Robert Harward, a former Navy SEAL and protege of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Harward declined the offer. Trump then turned to McMaster, another Mattis protege and an expert in military history and theory.

In recent weeks, several White House officials have left or changed roles. Deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh departed last week for a Trump-related super PAC, while holdovers from the Obama administration also departed. And Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter, announced she was taking a formal position in the White House.

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Democrats seized on the removal of Bannon, who has been a frequent target of their criticism. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said Trump deserves no credit for removing him. “His twisted ideology shouldn’t have been welcomed in the first place,” she tweeted.

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., also weighed in on Twitter, noting Bannon’s lack of national security experience in the first place. “Why all this rationality now?” Lieu asked about the removal.

The move also establishes the director of the CIA as a full member of the powerful principals committee and adds him to the NSC, where he had not been included in the original Jan. 27, 2017, memorandum.

“The Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as statutory advisers to the NSC, shall also be regular attendees, as will the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency,” the new memorandum states.