Published 11:02 IST, September 18th 2019
Donald Trump shortlists five people for National Security Advisor
After firing Bolton for making mistakes and not being in line with the administration, the US President has shortlisted five people for the position of NSA.
- World News
- 3 min read
After firing John Bolton for making mistakes and not being in line with the administration, the United States President has shortlisted five people for the position of his possible National Security Advisor. The five people reportedly selected are - Robert O'Brien, Ric Waddle, Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, Fred Fleitz, and Keith Kellogg, however, it was not a complete list. President Trump fired Bolton on September 11 stating that he strongly disagrees with many of his decisions and he had made some “big mistakes”. He further added that Bolton's action was not in line with the administration.
"John is known as a tough guy. He's so tough he got us sent to Iraq that's tough. But he's somebody that I actually had a very good relationship with, but he wasn't getting along with people in the administration that I consider very important," Trump said.
The possible NSA
Robert O'Brien has served as a Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the Department of State. Major General Ric Waddell was the Deputy National Security Adviser to Trump in 2017-2018 and currently serves as the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gordon-Hagerty is the undersecretary for nuclear security at the Department of Energy and the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration presently. Army Gen. Keith Kellogg is the current national security adviser to US Vice President Mike Pence and last but not the least, Fred Fleitz is the former chief of staff of Bolton. He has also worked as a CIA analyst.
Trump applauds
President Trump believes that Robert O'Brien is fantastic and on the other hand Keith Kellogg who has been with the US President from the beginning has been great at his work. President Trump also added, "I love Keith Kellogg”. About Ric Waddell, Trump said he liked him "a lot". The White House reported that the list is not complete yet and there are going to be other people who will be considered.
"As the President said when speaking to the pool, the names of candidates mentioned for the NSA position was not the full list, and there are others being considered," White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said.
(With inputs from PTI)
Updated 13:23 IST, September 18th 2019