Under Obama the NSC had ballooned to 236 employees, from about 100 under Bush 43.
Anton also questioned some of the decisions to expand the staff levels between the Bush and Obama administrations. As an example, he pointed out that under Mr. Bush, the Middle East directorate of the NSC included all of the Arabic-speaking countries including North African countries. After he left, under Mr. Obama, the Africa directorate absorbed the North African countries, but by the time he returned in 2017, Anton said that "the Middle East directorate, even though it lost countries…was much larger."
He thinks that a smaller NSC "will be easier to manage" with "clearer lines of authority, clearer lines of who's responsible for what, clearer expectations among the staff."
- CBS News