Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Armed Services panel OKs McMaster’s shift
WASHINGTON — The Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved Army Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster’s shift to the White House to be President Donald Trump’s national security adviser.
The 23- 2 vote came after McMaster met privately with committee members for nearly two hours to discuss his move from a military assignment to one of the most influential jobs in all of U.S. government. Two members of the committee abstained from voting.
“The vote was very overwhelming in favor of approving his status as a three-star general to remain on active-duty,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the panel’s chairman, told reporters after the session.
McMaster’s appearance before the committee was unusual because national security advisers aren’t subject to Senate confirmation and typically don’t testify on Capitol Hill. But McMaster’s situation is different, because he elected to remain in uniform rather than retire from military service, and generals of his grade need the chamber’s approval when they’re promoted or get new assignments.
McCain said he’s confident that the full Senate will follow suit and reappoint McMaster as a lieutenant general while serving as Trump’s national security adviser.
Questions were raised during the meeting about the role that Trump chief strategist, Steve Bannon, plays on the National Security Council, according to McCain, who said he considers it inappropriate for the president’s “political adviser” to have a voice in the National Security Council.
Trump selected McMaster last month after the general’s predecessor, Michael Flynn, resigned because he misled Vice President Mike Pence about whether he and Moscow’s top diplomat in Washington had discussed U. S. sanctions against Russia in a telephone call.
As national security adviser, McMaster oversees the National Security Council staff and was promised total control by Trump. That pledge could lead to tension with Bannon, who operates a “strategic initiatives group” that runs parallel to the council.
Bannon also has a seat on the council’s principals committee in a restructuring approved by Trump that puts him on equal footing with Trump Cabinet members such as Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.