McMaster Named as Trump’s National Security Adviser Army officer takes job at a time when several foreign policy challenges are under review By Carol E. Lee and Paul Sonne

Posted By on February 21st, 2017

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-names-mcmaster-as-national-security-adviser-1487620992

President Donald Trump chose an active-duty Army general as his new national security adviser on Monday, bringing one of the U.S. military’s best-known strategists into the White House and adding to his team another warrior-scholar in the mold of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, whom Mr. Trump called “a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience,” accepted the post, making him the first active-duty U.S. military officer to take the job since Colin Powell and John Poindexter held it under President Ronald Reagan.

“He is highly respected by everyone in the military, and we’re very honored to have him,” Mr. Trump said, with Gen. McMaster and acting National Security Adviser Keith Kellogg by his side.

Mr. Trump said Mr. Kellogg, a retired three-star Army general who was under consideration for the top job, would resume his role as chief of staff to the National Security Council. He made the announcement from his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, where he interviewed at least four candidates for the job over the weekend, including Gen. McMaster and Mr. Kellogg.

The decision fills a top White House position one week after Mr. Trump asked his first national security adviser, Mike Flynn, to resign for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. Mr. Trump said Mr. Pence had a hand in choosing Gen. McMaster. Mr. Flynn hasn’t commented on his departure since his Feb. 13 resignation letter, in which he said he inadvertently gave colleagues “incomplete” information.

Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster

  • Age: 54
  • Most recent post: Director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, Fort Eustis, Va.
  • Education: U.S. Military Academy, 1984
  • Experience: Commanded a tank troop in the 1991 Gulf War; in the second Iraq war served as a counterinsurgency expert and senior adviser to Gen. David Petraeus, then-commander of U.S. forces in Iraq

Gen. McMaster steps in to lead a National Security Council that has largely been in disarray, with many career staffers uncertain about their roles and concerned about a lack of input into the policy-making process on a host of issues, according to administration officials.

The anxiety was stoked in recent days after an NSC staffer who was brought in by the Trump administration was dismissed after he criticized Mr. Trump in a private discussion at a Washington, D.C., think tank. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Sunday anyone who doesn’t support Mr. Trump’s agenda “shouldn’t be part of the administration.”

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