Sean Spicer said the White House was "instilling reforms to make sure that we streamline the process for the president to make decisions on key, important intelligence matters." | Getty Spicer defends Bannon role at National Security Council

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Sunday defended a shake-up of President Donald Trump's National Security Council, which will now include chief strategist Steve Bannon.

The council is being overhauled so that the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will play more limited roles in its principals meetings. Instead, Bannon, the former executive of conservative news outlet Breitbart, will gain greater access and presumably have greater influence on matters of national security.


In an interview on ABC's "This Week," Spicer said the White House was "instilling reforms to make sure that we streamline the process for the president to make decisions on key, important intelligence matters."

Spicer cited Bannon's background as a naval officer.

"He's got a tremendous understanding of the world and the geopolitical landscape that we have now," he said.

The former national security adviser to President Barack Obama, Susan Rice, said on Twitter this weekend that the changes to the National Security Council were "stone cold crazy."

"Chairman of Joint Chiefs and DNI treated as afterthoughts in Cabinet level principals [meetings]," she tweeted.