WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump shuffled the members of his National Security Council, adding top adviser and strategist Steve Bannon while downgrading the status of the director of National Intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The move was one of three executive measures Mr. Trump signed Saturday.

The NSC is a principal advisory group to the president on national security and foreign affairs and is typically charged with coordinating activity in other departments represented on the council. Mike Flynn, Mr. Trump’s national-security adviser, will lead the council.

Mr. Flynn feuded with the then-head of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence while leading the Defense Intelligence Agency before being removed from the post in 2014. He also has had disagreements with some of Mr. Trump’s cabinet picks and raised concerns within various agencies that he would consolidate power and decision-making in the council. In addition, Mr. Flynn raised eyebrows by staffing the NSC with a number of officials with military backgrounds.

Mr. Trump criticized U.S. intelligence agencies on the campaign trail and during his transition to the White House. He concluded that the ODNI, which was formed after the 2001 terror attacks and coordinates work among the government’s 16 intelligence agencies, has become bloated and politicized, The Wall Street Journal reported in early January. Mr. Trump has selected former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats to head the agency.


“The overall view was that some of the agencies would send people not at the appropriate level and/or people who are neither empowered to make decisions nor represent their departments; that there was too much discussion with too few decisions,” a White House official said.

An administration official said the changes to the NSC would make the operation “more adaptive to the modern threats that we face.” The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, and the director of national intelligence, Mr. Coats, will now be able to attend the council’s top-level meetings, typically headed by the president, only if they are specifically invited.

Some observers said over the weekend that it was unusual to invite Mr. Bannon, a former media and financial executive who is an architect of Mr. Trump’s campaign strategy, to all council meetings.

John Bellinger, a former legal adviser to the George W. Bush White House, said Mr. Bush tried to avoid inserting domestic politics into national-security decision-making.


“Karl Rove would not attend NSC meetings,” Mr. Bellinger wrote, referring to the president’s chief political strategist.

Sen. John McCain said Sunday on CBS that the appointment of Mr. Bannon to the council marked “a radical departure” from precedent.

Appearing on ABC, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Mr. Bannon, a former Navy officer, has “a tremendous understanding of the world and the geopolitical landscape.”

The presidential memorandum signed by Mr. Trump on Saturday also suggests a greater emphasis on cyberthreats.


“The security threats facing the United States in the 21st century transcend international boundaries,” the memorandum says. “Accordingly, the United States government’s decision-making structures and processes to address these challenges must remain equally adaptive and transformative.”

A second measure signed Saturday is an executive order barring Mr. Trump’s appointees from lobbying their former agencies within five years of leaving government service. The order also imposes a lifetime ban on lobbying foreign governments.

Past presidents have also put into place various lobbying bans, though over time the restrictions have proved porous and difficult to enforce.

The third measure Mr. Trump signed was an executive memorandum targeting the Islamic State terrorist network. It directs the Trump administration to develop a plan to defeat the group, calling on Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to submit a proposal in 30 days with help from other agencies.


“The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, is not the only threat from radical Islamic terrorism that the United States faces, but it is among the most vicious and aggressive,” the memorandum says.

Since taking office on Jan. 20, Mr. Trump has signed a total of 15 executive orders and memorandums meant to fulfill various promises he made on the campaign trail.

Write to Carol E. Lee at carol.lee@wsj.com and Peter Nicholas at peter.nicholas@wsj.com