The Pentagon would not say whether it was reviewing potential military assignments for National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster amid reports that the White House may be seeking to remove the decorated three-star from his administration post.
“Gen. McMaster is serving the president of the United States and he has a very distinguished career,” Pentagon Press Secretary Dana White told reporters Thursday. “Any decisions that will be made with respect to any changes or decisions will be at the White House.”
McMaster was tapped in early 2017 to serve as Trump’s national security adviser after Michael Flynn, a retired Army general, was forced to resign due to meetings he had held with Russian officials.
Since then, McMaster has occasionally been at odds with the president, according to news reports. On Feb. 17 Trump took to Twitter to publicly rebuke McMaster, who told a Munich security conference that the evidence that Russia interfered with the 2016 election was incontrovertible. During the conference, as a Russian cyber expert asked the national security adviser a question, McMaster chided, “I’m surprised [Russian] cyber experts are available, given how active they’ve been undermining our democracies in the West.”
On Thursday CNN reported that the Pentagon was looking at possible postings for McMaster, who received Senate approval to remain on active duty while working for the president.
McMaster was most recently the deputy commanding general of futures at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, and has held multiple senior leadership positions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tara Copp is a Pentagon correspondent for the Associated Press. She was previously Pentagon bureau chief for Sightline Media Group.
