US President Donald Trump has removed his close-aide Steve Bannon from the National Security Council of the White House. NSC is the principal forum used by the President for consideration of national security and foreign policy matters with senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials.<br/><br/>Mr Trump's elevation of Bannon to a permanent spot in NSC had been widely criticized as injecting politics into White House deliberations on sensitive matters. Bannon's removal was notified in a Presidential memorandum. The decision in this regard to constitute the new team was taken by new National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. HR McMaster. The new memorandum, restores the status of CIA Director, and chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence, which were initially downgraded.<br/><br/>President Trump made no statement on the shift, but Bannon described it as part of a process of getting the Council under control after it grew rapidly under former President Barack Obama's National Security Advisor Susan Rice.