Politics

Steve Bannon Gets National Security Role

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
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Former Breitbart executive and current White House chief strategist Steve Bannon will be able sit in on any National Security Council or Homeland Security Council meeting thanks to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Saturday.

President Trump’s executive order reorganized the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council. The National Security Council was founded in 1947 and is a forum where top officials meet to discuss matters of national security and foreign policy.

Bannon is not only invited to attend every NSC and HSC meeting now, but also is designated as a regular attendee to the NSC Principals Committee. This committee includes the secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, the secretary of defense, the attorney general, the secretary of homeland security, the assistant to the president and chief of staff, the national security advisor, and the homeland security advisor. (RELATED: Bannon: ‘Media Should Be Embarrsed, Humiliated – Keep Its Mouth Shut For Awhile’)

The director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will attend PC meetings “where issues pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise are to be discussed.” The Washington Post reported that the DNI and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were regular attendees in the past two administrations.

Bannon has had an important role in the early days of the Trump administration. Along with policy advisor Stephen Miller, Bannon reportedly helped craft President Trump’s inauguration speech, wrote many of Trump’s executive orders, and urged Trump to take a combative aproach with Mexico and the media.

The former Breitbart executive is a strong proponent of Trump’s populist platform. He reportedly told a Daily Beast writer in 2013 that he is a “Leninist,” and wants to “bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”