The National Counterterrorism Center, under newly confirmed director Joe Kent, will refocus on its core counterterrorism mission while also expanding into counternarcotics, reflecting the Trump administration's push to treat drug trafficking as a national security threat. Officials said the move builds on work that began earlier this year.

The Trump administration's announcement this week that it would rescind the security clearances of 37 current and former national security officials was hardly an isolated act.

Critics say the tactic risks chilling dissenting voices from an intelligence community accustomed to drawing on a range of viewpoints before formulating an assessment.