WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Sunday said the addition of President Donald Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, to regular meetings of the country's top national security officials was essential to the commander in chief's decision-making process. 
 
 Trump took steps Saturday to begin restructuring the White House National Security Council, adding the senior adviser to the principals committee, which includes the secretaries of state and defense. At the same time, Trump said his director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would attend "where issues pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise are to be discussed." 
 
 Bannon served in the Navy before attending Harvard Business School, working at Goldman Sachs, starting his own media-focused boutique investment banking firm and later heading the ultraconservative outlet Breitbart News. 
 
 "He is a former naval officer. He's got a tremendous understanding of the world and the geopolitical landscape that we have now," White House press secretary Sean Spicer told ABC's "This Week." 
 
 Spicer said "having the chief strategist for the president in those meetings who has a significant military background to help make — guide what the president's final analysis is going to be is crucial." 
 
 But to Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, the NSC "sadly has some really questionable people on it," he told NBC's "Meet the Press," citing Bannon among them. 
 
 Breitbart has been condemned for featuring racist, sexist and anti-Semitic content. ||||| K. T. McFarland has been asked to step down as deputy National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump after less than three months and is expected to be nominated as ambassador to Singapore, according to a person familiar with White House personnel moves. 
 
 The departure of the 65-year-old former Fox News commentator comes as Trump’s second National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster, puts his own stamp on the National Security Council after taking over in February from retired General Michael Flynn. 
 
 McFarland proved not to be a good fit at the NSC, the person said, adding that Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly was involved in the decision as well. 
 
 Her removal follows a reorganization of the NSC in the past week that removed Stephen Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist and senior counselor, from the principals committee, the Cabinet-level interagency forum that advises the president on pressing security matters. 
 
 Other officials, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were brought back onto the committee as “regular attendees,” reversing a move made in January. The changes were outlined in a presidential memorandum dated April 4. 
 
 Former Goldman Sachs executive Dina Powell stays on as another deputy national security adviser, and a second person is expected to be named to a similar role to replace McFarland. 
 
 Personnel Changes 
 
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 Trump’s young White House has been marked by several personnel changes, including the reassignment of Katie Walsh, its first deputy chief of staff, and reported infighting between the camps of Bannon on the one hand and adviser/Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner on the other. In that clash, the pair were asked to iron out their differences, which have played out in the media, and concentrate on backing the president’s agenda. 
 
 McMaster looked to minimize the significance of the demotion of Bannon, former executive chairman of Breitbart News, which came as the president was weighing options for action against Syria, his administration’s first major decision on a military intervention. 
 
 “This is not as significant as it appears,” said the 54-year-old Army lieutenant general. “Steve Bannon provides the president with advice on a broad range of issues and will continue to do so.” 
 
 Kathleen Troia (K.T.) McFarland was brought to the White House by Flynn, who was fired for not disclosing his level of contacts with Russia to the president or vice president. A staff member of the NSC in the 1970s, McFarland lost a bid for the 2006 Republican Party U.S. Senate nomination in New York. 
 
 The most recent U.S. ambassador to Singapore, Florida attorney and Barack Obama fundraiser Kirk Wagar, departed in January upon Trump’s inauguration. McFarland’s appointment would be subject to Senate confirmation. ||||| The latest move: Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence at the NSC, was shown the door today by McMaster, who, according to a White House official, decided that "a different set of experiences is best-suited to carrying that work forward." The White House said that Cohen-Watnick will remain in another national security position in the administration. 
 
 Since replacing Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser, H.R. McMaster has worked to wrest control of the National Security Council away from the nationalist wing of the administration, carrying out a series of high-profile staffing changes in the process. 
 
 Think back: Cohen-Watnick first gained notoriety in March as one of Devin Nunes' purported sources for the alleged unmasking of Trump team associates during incidental intelligence collection by the Obama administration. McMaster reportedly tried to force him out of his position after the CIA deemed him as "a threat," but that move was shot down by Bannon and Jared Kushner after they appealed directly to President Trump. 
 
 More of McMaster's attempts to reshape Trump's NSC... 
 
 Steve Bannon 
 
 Trump's chief strategist controversially held a seat on the NSC during the earliest days of the Trump administration, while Flynn was still at the helm. But in April, soon after McMaster was brought in, he launched a restructuring of the NSC that — among other things — saw Bannon lose his seat at the table, along with his most direct influence on the country's national security policy. 
 
 K.T. McFarland 
 
 Just days after Bannon lost his seat at the NSC, McMaster also pushed out Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland, a former Fox News contributor and Flynn ally. McFarland stayed in the administration — her nomination to become ambassador to Singapore is currently pending — but she lost her key national security position. 
 
 Tera Dahl 
 
 McMaster reassigned Dahl, a deputy chief of staff at the NSC who mostly occupied an administrative role, in early July, per Buzzfeed. Dahl was known to have close ties to Bannon, having previously worked as a columnist at Breitbart News. She had founded a think tank with the wife of NSC aide Sebastian Gorka that warned against the use of "politically correct" terms when discussing terrorism. 
 
 Derek Harvey 
 
 Last week, McMaster removed Harvey, the NSC's Middle East adviser, from his post, per Foreign Policy. Though the reasoning wasn't immediately made clear, Harvey was brought in by Flynn and was a noted hawk on Iran. He had also drafted a list of Obama-era "holdovers" employed by the NSC, a nod to the "deep state" theory in some conservative circles. 
 
 Rich Higgins 
 
 News broke earlier today that Bannon ally Rich Higgins, a director of strategic planning for the National Security Council, was fired last month after crafting a memo warning that "globalists and Islamists" were undertaking a "Maoist insurgency" to undermine President Trump via "political warfare," per The Atlantic.
– Amid President Trump's flurry of actions Saturday was some restructuring at the National Security Council. White House chief strategist Steve Bannon now has a permanent seat on the principals committee of the NSC, reports the Washington Post, which notes that "the changes affirm the ascent of Bannon" in giving a political adviser a seat at the military table. At the same time, Trump ordered that the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, former members of the principals committee, would be invited only when "issues pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise are to be discussed." The move is contrary to former President George W. Bush, reports CBS News, who banned Karl Rove from interactions with the NSC; former President Obama, however, occasionally sent David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs to NSC meetings. Bannon, however, "is a former naval officer. He's got a tremendous understanding of the world and the geopolitical landscape that we have now," says press secretary Sean Spicer, per the AP. Meanwhile, USA Today notes that the shakeup started #StopPresidentBannon trending. (Bannon had some succinct advice for the media on Saturday.)