In a surprise media announcement on Monday, President Donald Trump named Lt. General Herbert Raymond McMaster as his new National Security Adviser. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who has been notably absent since Valentine’s Day, confirmed the appointment on Twitter.
.@potus has named Lt Gen HR McMaster as the Director of the National Security Council, Lt Gen Keith Kellogg remains NSC CoS
— Sean Spicer (@PressSec) February 20, 2017
Lt. General Keith Kellogg, who served as acting NSA since the abrupt resignation of Michael Flynn, will stay on with the group, in his prior role as the Chief of Staff for the National Security Council. As an active flag officer, Lt. Gen. McMaster did not really have the luxury of turning down the appointment, unlike some other candidates under consideration. The president said that Ambassador John Bolton, passed over both for Secretary of State and the NSA, would be involved in the administration in an as-yet-unannounced capacity.
McMaster, a West Point graduate, is described much in the same way as Secretary of Defense James Mattis was, however he had less success in the service. While Mattis rose to the top rank of the Marines, McMaster’s promotion to Brigadier General was rejected in 2006 and 2007, it speculated that his reputation for challenging and being critical of civilian authorities held him back.
However, in 2008 he ascended to the rank, likely thanks to the influence of General David Petraeus who wanted to ensure the best leaders from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars ended up in top ranks in the military. Not unrelated, McMaster wrote a book about the Vietnam War which specifically criticized inept civilian leadership willing to play politics with warfighting. Mattis may be “Mad Dog” (much to his chagrin), but McMaster is called “the Iconoclast General.”
If the largest concern about Michael Flynn wasn’t his Russian connections, it was that he seemed like an impulsive sycophant whose loyalty to the man trumped his loyalty to the Constitution, the Army values, or whatever else exists in this country outside of partisan politics. The largest concern for McMaster is just the opposite, if anyone would challenge a president it is him.
For a White House and National Security Council apparatus seemingly in turmoil, McMaster is perhaps one of the best choices the president could have made.
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