Washington: The rise and rise of controversial White House star Stephen Bannon hit a wall on Wednesday, when he was booted from the National Security Council, a prestigious appointment that had caused great anxiety on both sides of politics and in the US national security establishment.

The security reshuffle saw senior military and intelligence officials reinstated to the NCS after they had been bumped at the time of Bannon's appointment in the early days of the administration. It was read through two prisms – new Trump National Security Adviser, US Army Lieutenant General HR McMaster is asserting himself; and after 75 days of administration chaos, when push comes to shove, Trump can be convinced to reshuffle even his closest aides.

McMaster has been settling in since he replaced his predecessor, the former US Army General Mike Flynn, who was sacked in February, after he was revealed to have lied about his communications with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition.

Last month McMaster was depicted as something of a eunuch, when Bannon and Trump son-in-law and counsellor Jared Kushner intervened to thwart his sacking of NSC intelligence director Ezra Cohen-Watnick. The Flynn appointee was outed last week as the source of leaked intelligence documents linked to congressional investigations of Trump's Russia connections.