Philadelphia Native Joins Trump Administration

H.R._McMaster_ARCIC_2014Lt. Gen. Herbert Raymond McMaster, a Philadelphia Native, joined the Trump Administration replacing Michael Flynn as his national security advisor.  

McMaster was born in Philadelphia in 1962.  He attended Valley Forge Military Academy and then the United State Military Academy at West Point.  He received the Silver Star in 1991.  

McMaster holds a doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was named to Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” list in 2014.  

His doctoral thesis became a book titled “Dereliction of Duty.”  It openly criticized the decisions of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to only tell the Johnson Administration what it wanted to hear.  McMaster has a reputation for giving his honest opinion, and not telling people what they want to hear.  

How this approach will mesh with the Trump will keep many eyes on the relationship between the two.

2 Responses

  1. So, gulag, you want Trump’s National Security Advisor to prove his mettle by denouncing (whatever that means in this context–your choice of word, BTW) the President who hired him to ensure accurate and timely input on defense and security affairs? Does it occur to you that if McMaster had any doubts about his ability to do this, including having continued access to the President, he would not have accepted the position?

    McMaster’s book bears on the responsibilitlies of the top defense leadership to the President, namely to provide him with an unvarnished, honest assessment on defense and security issues. It could be that McMaster’s demonstrated need for probity as shown in his book was a factor in his choice.

    McMaster’s job is to advise the President on national security issues, and not to serve Trump’s critics by going public on issues of state. His input to the President has to be an accurate assessment on national security issues, regardless of whether the news is either good or bad. McMaster would not have been chosen had Trump judged he could not ensure this.

  2. Let’s see if he has the same courage to denounce Trump that he criticized generals for lacking under LBJ.

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