Under the previous administration, the NSC had doubled in size to almost 200 people and had become unmanageable. The increase in size had also blown the budget

Under the previous administration, the NSC had doubled in size to almost 200 people and had become unmanageable. The increase in size had also blown the budget, making it difficult to hire staff in response to world events. The current administration inherited this mess and has been acting to reduce the size back to a manageable size. The part of the NSC being talked about here is not the "US pandemic response team" - whatever that is. The DHHS and CDC in particular can function just fine without some NSC staffers.