The departure of Deputy National Security Adviser Andy Baker comes as Trump makes an extraordinary claim about the Strait of Hormuz, reshuffles U.S. naval forces and orders the Navy to revisit decades-old carrier technology.
The Trump administration is losing another senior national security official at an especially awkward moment.
Andy Baker, a deputy national security adviser who previously served as Vice President JD Vance’s national security adviser and has played a significant role in the administration’s Iran policy, is preparing to leave the White House.
Axios reported Friday that Baker will depart in the coming weeks after roughly 18 months at the center of the administration’s national security operation. Sources told the outlet that Baker had actually remained in the job longer than originally planned to help with the transition to other officials.
That context matters. There is currently no public evidence that Baker stormed out of the White House in protest over Donald Trump’s Iran policy, and describing his departure as such would go beyond the available reporting.
But the timing is difficult to ignore.
Baker’s exit comes while the United States remains locked in a dangerous confrontation with Iran, negotiations remain uncertain, the Navy is stretching its carrier fleet across multiple theaters, and Trump continues making foreign-policy pronouncements that can leave even his own administration scrambling to explain what he means.
Trump Says the Strait of Hormuz Could Become American Territory
One of the strangest examples came Friday in Garden City, New York.
Speaking at the Nassau County Police Academy, Trump claimed that the United States would eventually turn one of the world’s most strategically important waterways into American territory.
“Pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.”
Trump went on to claim that the United States effectively controls the waterway because of its blockade.
The remark wasn’t merely another Trumpian boast about winning.
The Strait of Hormuz sits between Iran and Oman and has historically been one of the most important energy corridors on Earth. Before the current conflict, roughly one-fifth of global oil consumption passed through the strait.
Iran, unsurprisingly, has a very different view of who controls it.
Reuters reported Friday that Tehran continues to insist that the waterway will reopen only under Iranian control as negotiations over the conflict remain stalled. Tanker traffic through the strait has collapsed, helping drive energy prices higher.
Then came an explanation familiar to anyone who has followed Trump for the last decade: apparently, don’t take the president literally.
According to reporting citing a senior White House official, Trump had not discussed making the Strait of Hormuz U.S. territory with his advisers and was supposedly joking.
That explanation creates its own problem.
When the president of the United States publicly suggests annexing one of the most strategically sensitive waterways on Earth while his country is fighting the nation bordering it, allies and adversaries don’t have the luxury of assuming he’s doing stand-up comedy.
A Key Iran Adviser Is Leaving
Against that backdrop comes Baker’s departure.
Axios describes Baker as an influential figure in foreign-policy and national-security decision-making during Trump’s second administration. Before becoming deputy national security adviser, Baker served as Vance’s top national security aide and had previously worked as a Foreign Service officer.
Other reporting describes Baker as having played a central role in negotiations with Iran.
There is an important distinction between what we know and what Trump’s critics might understandably suspect.
We know Baker is leaving.
We know his departure comes during a major foreign-policy crisis.
We do not currently have evidence that he is resigning because he opposes Trump’s handling of Iran.
That’s worth emphasizing because the temptation to connect those dots is obvious—and because there is already plenty happening inside this administration that doesn’t require embellishment.
Baker’s departure also follows news that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave her position at the end of August. Trump announced her departure Wednesday, while Leavitt has cited family considerations after recently returning from maternity leave. She is expected to remain involved as an outside adviser.
Two prominent officials leaving within days of each other certainly gives Trump’s critics material to work with. But calling it a mass exodus or proof that officials are abandoning Trump over Iran would, at least for now, be speculation rather than reporting.
The facts are consequential enough on their own.
Trump Wants the Navy to Go Back to Steam
While the administration manages an active war and an overstretched Navy, Trump has also revived one of his longtime personal obsessions: aircraft-carrier catapults.
On Thursday, Trump signed a national security memorandum directing the Pentagon to develop a plan to replace the electromagnetic launch system planned for the future USS Doris Miller with traditional steam-powered catapults.
The Pentagon has 60 days to produce that plan.
Modern Ford-class carriers use the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or emails, rather than the steam catapults found aboard older Nimitz-class carriers.
Trump has complained about electromagnetic catapults for years.
This isn’t simply an argument over whether steam or electromagnetism sounds cooler. The Doris Miller has already been designed around the newer system, contracts have been awarded and work is underway.
General Atomics, which manufactures emails, says its work on the launch and arresting systems for the ship is already nearly 50% complete.
The company publicly urged the administration to reconsider, warning that changing course now would create substantial cost, scheduling and integration problems.
The Associated Press reported that returning to steam could ultimately cost billions of dollars and require additional sailors to operate the older system. Meanwhile, electromagnetic systems aren’t some abandoned technological dead end: France is adopting the technology, and China has also moved toward electromagnetic aircraft-launch systems.
Trump’s dislike of emails dates back to his first presidency.
During a 2019 speech, Trump complained about the technology’s complexity and contrasted it with the older steam system. Years later, that personal fixation has transformed into an actual presidential directive that could force the Navy to redesign part of a multibillion-dollar aircraft carrier already under construction.
Presidents absolutely have the authority—and responsibility—to question military procurement programs. The Pentagon’s history of delays, cost overruns and failed acquisition programs gives any president plenty to scrutinize.
But there is a difference between demanding accountability from defense contractors and imposing an enormously consequential engineering decision because the commander in chief has spent years insisting that he prefers steam.
If the administration has technical evidence demonstrating that abandoning emails at this stage will improve combat effectiveness while justifying the additional cost and disruption, it should release it.
American taxpayers are going to be paying the bill either way.
Meanwhile, America’s Carrier Fleet Is Being Stretched Thin
The catapult fight is happening while the Navy faces a much more immediate problem.
The USS Abraham Lincoln has been at sea for more than 250 days after its deployment was repeatedly extended because of the war with Iran.
Reuters reported that the roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard the carrier have endured more than 200 consecutive days without a port visit. Families and lawmakers have raised concerns about living conditions, morale and the mental health of personnel aboard the ship.
Trump’s response Friday when asked whether the deployment had gone on too long?
“Not nearly long enough.”
The Navy is now sending the USS George Washington from the Pacific to relieve the Lincoln.
There’s just one rather significant problem with that solution.
The George Washington was America’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier in the western Pacific.
Its departure means the United States currently has no aircraft carrier stationed in the Pacific as China continues expanding its military power and American allies including Japan and the Philippines watch closely. The Associated Press reports that the move is already causing concern about the strategic vacuum being created in the region.
This is the broader issue that gets lost amid Trump’s daily stream of declarations.
Military power isn’t unlimited.
Aircraft carriers need maintenance. Weapons have to be replenished. Sailors need rest. Ships positioned in one theater cannot simultaneously deter an adversary thousands of miles away.
A president can declare that America is “winning” as often as he wants. Logistics does not care about political branding.
Governing by Impulse Has Consequences
None of these developments exists in isolation.
A senior national security official involved with Iran policy is leaving.
The president publicly floats making the Strait of Hormuz American territory, only for his own White House to reportedly explain that he was joking.
An aircraft carrier and thousands of sailors have endured an extraordinary deployment while another carrier is pulled away from the Pacific to relieve them.
And in the middle of all of this, Trump has ordered the Pentagon to explore ripping modern electromagnetic technology out of a future aircraft carrier because he has spent years insisting that the Navy should return to steam.
Trump’s supporters will undoubtedly characterize this as disruptive leadership: a president willing to challenge generals, bureaucrats, contractors and conventional wisdom.
Sometimes conventional wisdom deserves to be challenged.
But disruption is not a strategy by itself.
When presidential whims affect multibillion-dollar weapons systems, military deployments, alliances and an active war, Americans should demand something more substantial than “trust me.”
They should demand evidence that decisions are being made because they strengthen the United States—not simply because Donald Trump likes the sound of them.
Sources & Editorial Note
This article was developed from reporting and commentary by Ben Meiselas of MeidasTouch, with additional reporting, verification, and context drawn from Reuters, The Associated Press, Axios, and other cited reporting. Key subjects independently reviewed include Andy Baker’s departure from the White House, President Donald Trump’s remarks regarding the Strait of Hormuz, Karoline Leavitt’s announced departure, conditions and deployments involving the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS George Washington, and the administration’s directive concerning electromagnetic and steam-powered aircraft carrier launch systems.
The original MeidasTouch report served as a starting point for this article; its commentary and characterizations were not automatically treated as established fact. The article was independently rewritten, and factual claims and direct quotations were checked against additional sources where possible. Analysis and opinions expressed in this article are those of this publication and should be distinguished from independently reported facts.
Sources: MeidasTouch / Ben Meiselas; Reuters; The Associated Press; Axios.
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