Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump selects homeland security adviser, negotiator
President-elect picks two senior officials, his counselor on counterterrorism and newly created role of international dealmaker.
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he has appointed Thomas Bossert, a veteran of the George W. Bush administration, as assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism.
The position is a crucial White House post within the National Security Council. In the past, the aide has often been the first person to brief the president when a terrorist attack takes place within the United States and served as a key liaison between the administration and foreign governments in the fight against terrorism.
Trump’s transition office said that the position would be elevated to be equal in status to that of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, whom Trump previously named as his national security adviser. Under President Barack Obama, the job Bossert is taking over has been considered a deputy national security adviser. The transition team said Bossert would focus on domestic and transnational security issues while Flynn focuses on international security challenges.
Also Tuesday, Trump named Jason Greenblatt, his longtime business lawyer, to a newly created position of special representative for international negotiations.
In a statement, Trump said that he had asked Greenblatt, who serves as chief legal officer of the Trump Organization, to assist him “with international negotiations of all types, and trade deals around the world.”
During the campaign, Greenbelt, a pro-Israel activist, also served as one of Trump’s closest advisers ON U.S.-Israeli relations.
It was not immediately clear if Greenbelt would be stationed in the White House or one of the Cabinet agencies or how his role would interact with others tasked with overlapping responsibilities, such as the U.S. trade representative.
In a statement, Greenblatt, who has known Trump for two decades, thanked him for the appointment and said his philosophy “in both business and in life, is that bringing people together and working to unite, rather than to divide, is the strongest path to success.”
Bossert served in the White House previously as the deputy homeland security adviser to President Bush. In that capacity, he supported and advised the president on matters of homeland and national security, counterterrorism, cybersecurity and continuity of operations, Trump’s transition office said.
In a statement, Bossert said he is looking forward to working with Flynn and “maintaining a strong, deeply respectful relationship” with state and local officials and emergency responders involved in homeland security.
Since leaving the Bush administration, Bossert has run a homeland and national security consulting business and served as a senior cybersecurity fellow at the U.S. Atlantic Council.
In New York on Tuesday afternoon, police hastily cleared the lobby of Trump Tower to investigate an unattended backpack, only to find that it contained children’s toys.
The bomb squad checked out the package and gave an “all clear” just after 5 p.m. EST.
Trump lives in the tower and has his offices there, although he is spending the holidays at his Florida resort, where he’s held a steady stream of meetings.
Meanwhile, it appears Trump’s plan to dissolve his charitable foundation before he takes office to eliminate any conflicts of interest will be harder than he thought. The New York attorney general’s office said Tuesday Trump cannot dismantle his charitable foundation because state prosecutors are probing whether the presidentelect personally benefited from its spending. Trump’s charity has admitted it violated IRS regulations barring it from using money or assets to benefit Trump. Trump asserted on Twitter late Monday that his foundation was run efficiently.
“The DJT Foundation, unlike most foundations, never paid fees, rent, salaries or any expenses,” the president-elect tweeted. “100% of the money goes to wonderful charities.”