Trump’s homeland security adviser quits
Tom Bossert’s departure another sign of remolding of national security team
WASHINGTON – New national security adviser John Bolton continued to remold President Trump’s national security team Tuesday as Trump accepted the resignation of homeland security adviser Tom Bossert.
“The president is grateful for Tom’s commitment to the safety and security of our great country,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.
Bossert’s move came two days after Michael Anton announced his departure as spokesman for the National Security Council.
Bolton himself officially started work as national security adviser on Monday.
The White House also announced that Rob Joyce, cyber security coordinator, would replace Bossert as the acting homeland security adviser.
Sanders said: “Tom led the White House’s efforts to protect the homeland from terrorist threats, strengthen our cyber defenses, and respond to an unprecedented series of natural disasters. President Trump thanks him for his patriotic service and wishes him well.”
Jamil Jaffer, a former chief counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who advised President George W. Bush, said it’s a “huge mistake” to push out Bossert, whom he called “a very smart and highly skilled national security leader who has been a beacon of principle, capability and discipline in an otherwise chaotic White House.”
Ousting Bossert “deprives the president of critically important and skilled advice” on counterterrorism, homeland security, and cyber security issues, Jaffer, who founded the National Security Institute at George Mason University in Virginia, said in a statement.
“Moreover, letting Bossert go at a time of heightened threats and when there is significant churn on the overall national security team is a yet another unforced error,” Jaffer said.