The Trump administration has eliminated its top cyber policy adviser role, ousting a key position aimed at facilitating the government's overall approach to cybersecurity policy and digital warfare, Politico reported May 15.
The decision is part of an effort to "streamline authority" for top officials working on the National Security Council, according to a May 15 email sent to NSC staffers that Politico later obtained. Politico had earlier reported that John Bolton, President Donald Trump's new national security adviser, was looking to cut the cyber coordinator role.
The NSC's cyber team has two senior directors, and as such, "cyber coordination is already a core capability," Christine Samuelian, an aide to Bolton, reportedly said in the email to NSC staffers. Quoting Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 70, Samuelian said that "eliminating another layer of bureaucracy delivers greater 'decision, activity, secrecy and despatch,'" Politico reported.
The news comes after Rob Joyce, the latest official to hold the cybersecurity coordinator role, recently left the White House to return to the National Security Agency.
Reports of the White House's decision to eliminate the cyber role drew backlash from a handful of Capitol Hill members.
"With cyber threats ever-changing and growing more sophisticated by the day, there is no logical reason to eliminate this senior position and reduce the already degraded level of cyber expertise at the White House," Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement.
