In shake up, Rick Perry moves into Trump's national security inner circle

By Gage Skidmore (Flickr: Rick Perry) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

by Abby Livingston, The Texas Tribune
April 5, 2017

WASHINGTON — A new memorandum Wednesday revealed that U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry will be added to President Donald Trump’s National Security Council, the chief executive’s main advisory group on intelligence and defense matters.

The move came as part of a broader shake up of the council. The president’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon, was removed from the council, while other members of the executive branch were elevated to the advisory group. Bloomberg News first reported the news of the changes.

As secretary of energy, Perry, the longtime Texas governor, oversees the country’s nuclear arsenal. His predecessor, former Sec. Ernest Moniz, played a key role in negotiating the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

Perry evolved from one of Trump’s fiercest critics in his short-lived 2015 presidential run to becoming a member of Trump’s cabinet.

While Perry struggled to regain his footing after his “oops” moment in a 2011 presidential debate, his tenure leading the Department of Energy has been one of the most drama-free of Trump’s appointments so far.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2017/04/05/shake-rick-perry-moves-trumps-national-security-inner-circle/.

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