Free Republic

As women all over the world celebrated Women’s History Month this March, little attention focused on the number of women who form the backbone of President Trump’s National Security Council. His two deputy national security advisers — K.T. McFarland (pictured above) and Dina Powell, and the person in charge of writing the national security strategy — Nadia Schadlow — are women. It’s likely the first time that women have held those positions simultaneously — no insignificant fact in a field that’s still male-dominated. Together, McFarland, Powell and Schadlow bring different strengths to the table.

Tony Podesta's firm failed to file legally required disclosures after emails with his WH adviser brother A high-dollar lobbyist and fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign failed to file legally required disclosures for his advocacy on behalf of a foreign government in discussions with Clinton’s future campaign chairman, according to a political law expert. High-powered Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta emailed his brother John, a top White House adviser who would later chair the Clinton campaign, in January 2015. Tony wondered if John would attend a meeting with the Indian ambassador to the United States. “I’m at Camp David Friday,” John...

Unfit for duty: McMaster and Gorka It is unfortunate and disquieting that this denial and willful ignorance continues in the Trump administration. One cannot defeat an enemy that one does not understand, much less one that one refuses to understand. President Trump continues to speak about “radical Islamic terrorism” while hiring people who remain in Obamoid fantasyland. This must be clarified.“Unfit for Duty,” by John Guandolo, Understanding the Threat, February 26, 2017: The new National Security Advisor – Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond McMaster – and the Counter-Terrorism advisor to the President of the United States – Sebastian Gorka – both...

The appointment of Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster as National Security Advisor was not the Trump Administration’s first shake-up on the National Security Council, and it is unlikely to be the last. The Trump Administration’s decision to upend the NSC’s organization is an effort to correct what many believed had become a bloated bureaucratic structure that could not attain its key goals. The NSC is a handpicked advisory committee charged with directing the expedient flow of national security information to and from the President. The staff includes the Principals Committee, which includes the secretaries of state, treasury, and defense, among others,...

WASHINGTON — President Obama ordered his advisers last August to produce a secret report on unrest in the Arab world, which concluded that without sweeping political changes, countries from Bahrain to Yemen were ripe for popular revolt, administration officials said Wednesday. Mr. Obama’s order, known as a Presidential Study Directive, identified likely flashpoints, most notably Egypt, and solicited proposals for how the administration could push for political change in countries with autocratic rulers who are also valuable allies of the United States, these officials said.

"...veterans of past administrations and members of Congress from both parties criticized the decision to put Mr. Bannon on the principals committee, saying that it risked injecting politics into national security. President George W. Bush’s senior adviser, Karl Rove, was generally kept out of sensitive national security meetings. Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, attended some national security meetings but was not given formal status." "As for Bannon, who may be cut from the NSC, Trump's decision will be carefully watched as such a move would be potentially perceived as a relaxation of Bannon's influence over Trump, a topic which...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- A senior Trump administration official was fired following criticism in a private speech of President Donald Trump's policies and his inner circle of advisers.</p> <p>Craig Deare, whom Trump appointed a month ago to head the National Security Council's Western Hemisphere division, was on Friday escorted out of the Executive Office Building, where he worked in Washington.</p>

Craig Deare, whom Trump appointed a month ago to head the National Security Council's Western Hemisphere division, was on Friday escorted out of the Executive Office Building, where he worked in Washington. A senior White House official confirmed that Deare is no longer working at the NSC and has returned to the position he previously held at the National Defense University. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an incident not otherwise made public, and provided no further details. But current and former administration officials say Deare's termination was linked to remarks he made Thursday at a private...

David Petraeus will not be replacing Michael Flynn as Donald Trump's next national security adviser. Trump ousted Flynn on Monday in a controversy over the retired lieutenant general's contacts with Russia. Petraeus, a retired general and former CIA director, expressed concern about Trump's reluctance to grant the new adviser full discretion over policy and staffing. On Friday, Petraeus told the Munich Security Conference: 'Whoever it is that would agree to take that position certainly should do so with some very, very significant assurances that he or she would have authorities over the personnel of the organization. 'That there would be...

Donald Trump promised during the campaign to get tough on radical Islamic terror groups as well as force Iran to renegotiate terms on Barack Obama’s nuclear deal. The next executive orders from the president may address both pledges — and create more controversy. According to Reuters, Trump will designate the entire Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), expanding current sanctions applied at the moment to only its Quds Force: A designation of the entire IRGC as a terrorist group would potentially have much broader implications, including for the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated between Iran and...

Petraeus would be a disaster — a stalwart of the old establishment in an administration that said it would “drain the swamp.” In May 2016, he published what was essentially an anti Trump screed, saying that proposals to restrict immigration from Muslim countries that are hotspots of jihad terror shouldn’t even be made, so as to avoid offending Muslims. He was in favor of using al Qaeda jihadis to defeat the Islamic State, which would give us a region full of al-Qaeda jihadis with American weapons and materiel who hate the United States and want to destroy it. (This is...

The turnover in the National Security Council is far from over, as more shuffling is expected in the wake of the resignation of the agency’s top boss, Michael Flynn, according to a report. KT McFarland — Flynn’s deputy, a former Republican Senate candidate in New York and former Fox News commentator — is not expected to remain in her perch as the No. 2 on the NSC, the New York Times reports. But it’s not clear whether McFarland will leave the administration entirely.

One individual who should be at the top of Trump's list as a replacement for Mike Flynn, is former Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin, currently Executive Vice President at Family Research Council. Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin on Fox News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCbkaxC-Hj8Wikipedia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCbkaxC-Hj8

Vice Adm. Bob Harward is one name that has come up to replace Flynn as national security adviser, and the leading candidate to get the job, a senior official told Fox News. Harward is a U.S. Navy SEAL, but also has a previous relationship with Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Harward was the deputy commander of the U.S. Central Command under Mattis and was also the deputy commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command. He also served on the National Security Council for President George W. Bush and commissioned the National Counter Terrorism Center. White House sources described Harward as the...

...and I don't think Donald Trump should let them. Here's why... High fives abound at the Washington Post Bureau in DC.  They got the scalp of a man that they had been after for months.  General Michael Flynn has resigned as head of Trump's National Security Committee. A brief summary: The Washington Post reported on February 9, 2017 that General Flynn discussed with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak sanctions imposed on Russia on December 29, 2016 by the Obama Administration.   The sanctions were imposed for the alleged Russian hacking of the DNC and John Podesta emails, which while authentic, contained negative content that the Democrats and...

President Donald Trump pointed the finger at Obama administration holdovers at the White House and National Security Council for leaking information about private phone conversations he had with leaders of Australia and Mexico. “It’s a disgrace that they leaked because it’s very much against our country,” Trump told Fox News Sunday, accusing “Obama people” in civil service positions for the leaks. “It’s a very dangerous thing for this country,” he added noting that these individuals were still being sought out and replaced. Trump described the media stories of what seemed to be contentious interactions between him and the two foreign...

My friend Monica Crowley was the subject of a major hit job by CNN a few weeks back. She is a serious scholar, but she was portrayed as a serial plagiarist who never had an original idea in her head. The emotional toll of the uproar caused her to withdraw from her appointment by President Trump to be the senior director of communications at the National Security Council. It is the country’s loss. Over the last two decades, Monica has been one of the most effective commentators on the national scene regarding the geopolitical challenges confronting the United States, and...

Over the weekend, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were given extraordinary access to President Trump and his foreign policy team. On today’s Morning Joe, they gave their takeaways from their interview of the president and a number of his senior advisors. Scarborough painted a picture of White House staffers in a battle with the senior foreign policy team. Scarborough singled out Stephen Miller, saying “you’ve got a very young person in the White House on a power trip thinking that you can just write executive orders and tell all of your cabinet agencies to go to hell.” View the video...

It didn’t take long for the old administration to attack the new administration. Former national security advisor Susan Rice ignited a feud Sunday with the Trump White House by ripping the recent reshuffling of the National Security Council as “stone cold crazy.” White House spokesman Sean Spicer fired back by calling Ms. Rice’s comments “clearly inappropriate language from a former ambassador” and took a swipe at the Obama administration’s track record on national security. “And when you talk about the missteps made by the last administration, with all due respect, I think Ambassador Rice might want to wait and see...

Former Breitbart executive and current White House chief strategist Steve Bannon will be able sit in on any National Security Council or Homeland Security Council meeting thanks to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Saturday.President Trump’s executive order reorganized the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council. The National Security Council was founded in 1947 and is a forum where top officials meet to discuss matters of national security and foreign policy.Bannon is not only invited to every attend every NSC and HSC meeting now, but also is designated as a regular attendee to the NSC Principals Committee. This...