Military strategist H.R. McMaster chosen for key security post

President Trump appointed Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his new national security adviser Monday, picking a widely respected military strategist known for challenging conventional thinking and helping to turn around the Iraq War in its darkest days.

Trump made the announcement at his Mar-a-Lago resort, where he interviewed candidates over the holiday weekend to replace Michael Flynn, who was forced out after withholding information from Vice President Mike Pence about a call with Russia’s ambassador.

The choice continued Trump’s reliance on high-ranking military officers to advise him on national security.

McMaster, 54, made a name for himself as a young officer with a searing critique of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for their performance during the Vietnam War and later criticized the way President George W. Bush’s administration went to war in Iraq.

Most of the National Security Council staff is composed of career professionals, often on loan from military or civilian agencies, and they have complained privately about being shut out of their areas of expertise and kept in the dark about important decisions.