WHITE HOUSE STAFF SHAKEUP: Steve Bannon Out at National Security Council. “According to the report, Bannon never attended a meeting of the council and Trump felt he was no longer needed to be on it. ‘Susan Rice operationalized the NSC during the last administration,’ Bannon told the Wall Street Journal. ‘I was put on to ensure that it was de-operationalized. General McMaster has returned the NSC to its proper function.'”