DEVELOPING: Top White House Aide Expected To Step Down

White House deputy national security adviser Andy Baker will leave the Trump administration “in the coming weeks,” Axios reports.

Baker also served as national security advisor to Vice President JD Vance.

According to Axios, Baker has been a key figure in the administration’s foreign policy and national security decision-making throughout Trump’s second term.

💡Scoop: White House deputy national security adviser Andy Baker is leaving the administration in the coming weeks. Baker also served as national security advisor to Vice President Vance. @MarcACaputo and I report for @axios https://t.co/IZmmpZPTCX

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) August 14, 2026

Axios shared further:

Baker served as a foreign service officer at the State Department several years ago and then joined then-Sen. Vance’s team as a national security advisor.

A source close to Baker said he wants to spend more time with his family and stayed on months longer than planned to ensure an orderly transition to Sims and Needham.

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Baker is expected to work in the private sector with Robert O’Brien, who served as President Trump’s fourth national security advisor during his first term.

“This has been an amazing journey. I’m proud of everything we’ve achieved and, of course, am incredibly grateful to the President, Vice President, and Secretary Rubio,” Baker told Axios in a statement.

“Andy is an exceptionally gifted, deeply thoughtful advisor who has served the President and me with distinction,” Vance said in a statement, according to the outlet.

“He has been an indispensable member of our administration’s national security team. For the over three years that Andy has been by my side, I’ve always valued his counsel and have been grateful for the difficult work he’s done,” he added.

“Andy is a brilliant and kind person — and a true believer in the America First foreign policy agenda! We will miss having him around the NSC but excited to see what’s next!” Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson commented.

Andy is a brilliant and kind person — and a true believer in the America First foreign policy agenda!

We will miss having him around the NSC but excited to see what’s next! 🇺🇸 https://t.co/D0gjyX2H9s

— Dylan Johnson (@ASDylanJohnson) August 14, 2026

Reuters noted:

A former State Department official, academic and Vance adviser when the vice president was in the Senate, Baker had historically ⁠advocated for a more restrained American foreign policy that questioned the wisdom of long-term foreign conflicts.

He was also among the figures who helped craft Vance’s speech to the Munich Security Conference last year, during which the vice president warned European leaders that alleged censorship and democratic backsliding posed risks as severe to the continent as external threats, like those posed by China and Russia.

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