After the Gulf War, McMaster attended graduate school at UNC Chapel Hill then taught military history at the United States Military Academy from 1994 to 1996. After serving as a squadron executive officer and a regimental operations officer in the 11th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Irwin, California, he commanded the 1st Squadron 4th Cavalry at Schweinfurt, Germany from 1999 to 2002. After an Army War College Fellowship at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, he served as an executive officer and director of the Commander's Advisory Group at United States Central Command forward headquarters command in Qatar. In 2004, he took command of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment and fought the Iraqi insurgency in South Baghdad and Tal Afar from 2005 to 2006 after which he became a top counterinsurgency advisor to GeneralDavid Petraeus in Baghdad from 2007 to 2008. Brigadier General McMaster was the Director of Concept Development and Learning at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) from 2008 to 2010. From 2010 to 2012, he commanded Task Force Shafafiyat (Transparency), International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Major General McMaster commanded Fort Benning (now Fort Moore), Georgia and the Maneuver Center of Excellence from 2012 to 2014. In 2014, Lieutenant General McMaster became Director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center and Deputy Commanding General (Futures) at TRADOC.
In February 2017, McMaster succeeded Michael Flynn as President Donald Trump's National Security Advisor. He remained on active duty as a lieutenant general while serving as National Security Advisor, and retired in May 2018.[4][5] McMaster resigned as National Security Advisor on March 22, 2018, effective April 9,[6][7][8] and accepted an academic appointment at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, in 2018.[9]
McMaster was born in Philadelphia on July 24, 1962.[13] His father, Herbert McMaster Sr., was a veteran of the Korean War who retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel.[14] His mother, Marie C. "Mimi" McMaster (née Curcio),[15] was a school teacher and administrator.[16] He has a younger sister, Letitia.[16] He attended Norwood Fontbonne Academy, graduating in 1976; and high school at Valley Forge Military Academy, graduating in 1980. He earned a commission as a second lieutenant upon graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1984.[17]
McMaster earned a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in American history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). His thesis was critical of American strategy in the Vietnam War, which was further detailed in his NYT bestselling book Dereliction of Duty (1997).[18] The book details how and why the Vietnam War became an American war.[19] It harshly criticized high-ranking officers of the era, arguing that they inadequately challenged Secretary of DefenseRobert McNamara and PresidentLyndon B. Johnson on their Vietnam strategy. The book examines McNamara and Johnson's staff alongside the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other high-ranking military officers, and their failure to provide a successful plan of action either to pacify a Viet Cong insurgency or to decisively defeat the North Vietnamese Army. McMaster also details why military actions intended to indicate "resolve" or to "communicate" ultimately failed when trying to accomplish ambiguous, confusing, and conflicting military objectives. The book was reportedly much read in Pentagon circles and included in military reading lists.[20][21]
Military career
President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster have lunch with service members on July 18, 2017.
During the Gulf War in 1991 McMaster was a captain commanding Eagle Troop of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of 73 Easting.[22] During that battle, though significantly outnumbered and encountering the enemy by surprise as McMaster's lead tank crested a dip in the terrain, the nine tanks of his troop destroyed 28 Iraqi Republican Guard tanks[23] without loss in 23 minutes.[24]
McMaster was awarded the Silver Star. The now famous battle is featured in several books about Operation Desert Storm and is widely referred to in US Army training exercises. It was also discussed in Tom Clancy's 1994 popular nonfiction book Armored Cav.[25]
McMaster served as a military history professor at West Point from 1994 to 1996, teaching among other things the battles in which he fought. He graduated from the United States Army Command and General Staff College in 1999.[26]
In 2003 McMaster completed an Army War College research fellowship at Stanford University'sHoover Institution. In 2004, he was assigned to command the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (3rd ACR). Shortly after McMaster took command the regiment deployed for its second tour in Iraq and was assigned the mission of securing the city of Tal Afar. That mission culminated in September with Operation Restoring Rights and the defeat of the city's insurgent strongholds. President George W. Bush praised this success, and the PBS show Frontline broadcast a documentary in February 2006 featuring interviews with McMaster. CBS's 60 Minutes produced a similar segment in July,[27] and the operation was the subject of an article in the April 10, 2006, issue of The New Yorker.
Author Tim Harford has written that the pioneering tactics employed by 3rd ACR led to the first success in overcoming the Iraqi insurgency. Before 2005, tactics included staying out of dangerous urban areas except on patrols, with US forces returning to their bases each night. These patrols had little success in turning back the insurgency because local Iraqis who feared retaliation would very rarely assist in identifying them to US forces. McMaster deployed his soldiers into Tal Afar on a permanent basis, and once the local population grew confident that they weren't going to withdraw nightly, the citizens began providing information on the insurgents, enabling US forces to target and defeat them.[25][28] After hearing of McMaster's counterinsurgency success in Tal Afar, Vice President Dick Cheney invited McMaster to personally brief him on the situation in Iraq and give an assessment on what changes needed to be made to American strategy.[29]
McMaster passed command of the 3rd ACR on June 29, 2006, and joined the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, as a Senior Research Associate tasked to "conduct research to identify opportunities for improved multi-national cooperation and political-military integration in the areas of counterinsurgency, counter-terrorism, and state building", and to devise "better tactics to battle terrorism."[30]
From August 2007 to August 2008, McMaster was part of an "elite team of officers advising U.S. commander" General David Petraeus on counterinsurgency operations while Petraeus directed revision of the Army's Counterinsurgency Field Manual during his command of the Combined Arms Center.[31] Petraeus and most of his team were stationed in Fort Leavenworth at the time but McMaster collaborated remotely, according to senior team member John Nagl.[25][28]
Based on his date of rank as a colonel, McMaster was considered for promotion to brigadier general by annual Department of the Army selection boards in 2006 and 2007 but was not selected, despite his reputation as one of "the most celebrated soldiers of the Iraq War."[32][33][34][35] Though the Army's rationale for whether a given officer is selected is not made public, McMaster's initial non-selection attracted considerable media attention.[36][37][38] In late 2007, Secretary of the ArmyPete Geren requested that Petraeus return from Iraq to take charge of the promotion board as a way to ensure that the best performers in combat received every consideration for advancement, resulting in McMaster's selection along with other colonels who had been identified as innovative thinkers.[25][39]
McMaster as commander of the Maneuver Center of Excellence in 2012
In August 2008, McMaster assumed duties as Director, Concept Development and Experimentation (later renamed Concept Development and Learning), in the Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) at Fort Monroe, Virginia, part of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. In this position he was involved in preparing doctrine to guide the Army over the next 10 to 20 years. He was promoted on June 29, 2009.[40] Of the 978 members of the West Point Class of 1984 commissioned into the U.S. Army, McMaster was the second promoted to General Officer.[41] In July 2010 he was selected to be the J-5, Deputy to the Commander for Planning, at ISAF (International Security Assistance Forces) Headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan.
In July 2014, McMaster pinned on his third star when he began his duties as Deputy Commanding General of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command and Director of TRADOC's ARCIC.[43] He would spend three years at that position before he moved into the political realm.[44]
Army Chief of Staff General Martin Dempsey remarked in 2011 that McMaster was "probably our best Brigadier General."[45] McMaster made Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in April 2014. He was hailed as "the architect of the future U.S. Army" in the accompanying piece written by retired Lt. Gen. David Barno, who commanded U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005. "Major General Herbert Raymond McMaster might be the 21st century Army's pre-eminent warrior-thinker," Barno wrote, commenting on McMaster's "impressive command and unconventional exploits in the second Iraq war."[46] Barno also wrote, "Recently tapped for his third star, H. R. is also the rarest of soldiers—one who has repeatedly bucked the system and survived to join its senior ranks."[47]
McMaster requested his retirement from the Army following his March 22, 2018, resignation as President Trump's National Security Adviser,[48] asking that he leave the service "this summer."[49]
Because McMaster intended to remain on active duty, his official assumption of the National Security Advisor's duties and responsibilities required a United States Senate vote; lieutenant generals and generals require Senate confirmation of their rank and assignments.[55] On March 6, 2017, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 23–2 to recommend to the full Senate that McMaster be confirmed for reappointment at his lieutenant general rank during his service as the National Security Advisor.[56] The committee recommendation was referred to the Senate on March 7, and the full Senate confirmed McMaster by a vote of 86–10 on March 15, 2017.[57]
In early August, McMaster was targeted by what some deemed a "smear campaign" after he fired several National Security Council staff members.[58][59][60] White House officials and journalists suspected Steve Bannon of leading these attacks.[61][62] Attorney Mike Cernovich, radio host Alex Jones and Breitbart News were among the foremost promoters of the anti-McMaster campaign; Cernovich's website for the campaign also included a cartoon depicting McMaster, which the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) labeled antisemitic.[63][64] In addition, the Center for Security Policy criticized McMaster for being insufficiently conservative and for not supporting Trump's agenda.[65][66][67] The Russian intelligence services used internet bots and trolls to campaign to get McMaster out. The anti-McMaster campaign prompted dismissive responses by administration officials, and a statement from Trump affirming his confidence in McMaster.[68][69]
In February 2018, McMaster said that it was "incontrovertible" that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. McMaster, who spoke a day after a federal grand jury indicted more than a dozen Russians in connection with the interference, was addressing an international audience at the Munich Security Conference, including several Russian officials.[70]
On March 22, 2018, McMaster resigned as National Security Advisor. He said in a statement that he planned to retire from the military sometime in the next few months.[4] Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley asked McMaster to compete for four-star positions, but McMaster had decided to retire from the Army after leaving the job as National Security Advisor. Trump announced John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, as McMaster's replacement.[6] McMaster's ousting closely followed the departures of several other high-ranking officials in the administration, including Trump's longtime assistant and communications directorHope Hicks, national economic advisorGary Cohn, and Secretary of StateRex Tillerson.[72] Trump first announced McMaster's departure from the administration via a public tweet which thanked McMaster and stated that McMaster would "always be my friend."[7][8][73]
In 2019, McMaster became an Advisory Board Member of Spirit of America, a 501(c)(3) organization that supports deployed US personnel.[79] In 2020, McMaster became a board member of Zoom Video Communications,[80] and advisor to Mischler Financial Group Inc.[81] He is Chairman of Ergo's Flashpoints Forum, a consultancy firm. In 2021, McMaster joined the National Security Advisory Board of venture capital firm, Shield Capital, as Senior Advisor. [82] In September 2021, McMaster joined the advisory board of the geospatial-intelligence corporation Edgybees.[83] In January 2022, he joined the advisory board of Strider Technologies,[84] a software firm focused on economic statecraft risk vis-à-vis strategic competition with China.[85]
In 2021 McMaster was appointed Distinguished University Fellow at Arizona State University[44] where he serves as a subject matter expert on national security and defense issues. Also serving as an Arizona State University guest lecturer,[86] he guides and mentors students, and hosts special events surrounding national security and defense to advance Arizona State University’s lead in competitive statecraft.
In September 2021 McMaster was removed from the United States Military Academy's Board of Visitors by President Joe Biden as part of a mass removal of 18 Trump appointees[87] on the boards of the three service branches.[88]The Heritage Foundation deplored the purge; at the time it was thought that some of the 18 would contest the presidential decision in court.[89] White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the Biden administration "was seeking to ensure that board members were 'qualified to serve' and aligned with the president's values."[90]
HarperCollins published McMaster's second NYT bestselling book, Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World in September 2020. [93] The book is structured in seven parts, each concerning an area of interest for foreign policy, with autobiographical details strewn throughout. The areas are Russia, China, South Asia, the Middle East, Iran and North Korea. The final part is about "Arenas", which concludes his vision of foreign policy for the United States.
Positive reviews of the book included one by Cliff May, founder and president of Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), who said of the book "... with H. R.'s thoughtful, substantive, and intellectual approach. Battlegrounds lives up to this expectation, and then some. As a historian, as well as a soldier and strategist, General McMaster explores the development of the complex challenges facing America in the 21st Century."[94] Another positive review was that of Steve Cohen, an attorney at Pollock Cohen LLP in New York and a former member of the U.S. Naval Institute Board of Directors, who said it was "... a sober, thoughtful, intelligent volume that deserves shelf space for anyone serious about U.S. foreign policy in the first part of the 21st century."[95]
James Logan Jones Jr. is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general and consultant who served as the 21st United States National Security Advisor from 2009 to 2010. During his military career, he served as the 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps from July 1999 to January 2003, and Commander, United States European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 2003 to 2006. Jones retired from the Marine Corps on February 1, 2007, after 40 years of service.
Condoleezza Rice is an American diplomat and political scientist. She currently directs the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th United States secretary of state from 2005 to 2009 and as the 19th U.S. national security advisor from 2001 to 2005. Rice was the first female African-American secretary of state and the first woman to serve as national security advisor. Until the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008, Rice and her predecessor, Colin Powell, were the highest-ranking African Americans in the history of the federal executive branch. At the time of her appointment as Secretary of State, Rice was the highest-ranking woman in the history of the United States to be in the presidential line of succession.
John Philip Abizaid is a retired United States Army general and former United States Central Command (CENTCOM) commander who served as the United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2019 to 2021.
The Hoover Institution is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and limited government. While the institution is formally a unit of Stanford University, it maintains an independent board of overseers and relies on its own income and donations. It is widely described as conservative, although its directors have contested the idea that it is partisan.
Barry Richard McCaffrey is a retired United States Army general and current news commentator, professor and business consultant who served in President Bill Clinton's Cabinet as the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. He received three Purple Heart medals for injuries sustained during his service in the Vietnam War, two Silver Stars, and two Distinguished Service Crosses—the second-highest United States Army award for valor. He was inducted into United States Army Ranger Hall of Fame at the United States Army Infantry Center at Fort Benning in 2007.
James Norman Mattis is an American military veteran who served as the 26th United States secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. A retired Marine Corps four-star general, he commanded forces in the Persian Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.
David Howell Petraeus is a retired United States Army general and public official. He served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency from September 6, 2011, until his resignation on November 9, 2012. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus served 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and commander, U.S. Forces – Afghanistan (USFOR-A) from July 4, 2010, to July 18, 2011. His other four-star assignments include serving as the 10th commander, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) from October 13, 2008, to June 30, 2010, and as commanding general, Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I) from February 10, 2007, to September 16, 2008. As commander of MNF-I, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq.
Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam is a 1997 book written by H. R. McMaster, at the time a major in the United States Army. The book presents a case indicting former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his principal civilian and military advisers for losing the Vietnam War. The book was based on McMaster's Ph.D. dissertation at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
John M. "Jack" Keane is a former American general who served as vice chief of staff of the United States Army from 1999 to 2003. He is a national security analyst, primarily on Fox News, and serves as chairman of the Institute for the Study of War and as chairman of AM General.
Paul D. Eaton is a former United States Army officer who commanded the operations to train Iraqi troops during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Eaton served in that capacity between 2003 and 2004, and then returned to the US to become Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Training, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia. He previously served as Senior Adviser to the now-defunct National Security Network, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank focused on foreign policy and defense issues.
John Francis Kelly is an American former political advisor and retired U.S. Marine Corps general who served as White House chief of staff for President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019. He had previously served as Secretary of Homeland Security in the Trump administration and was commander of United States Southern Command. Kelly is a board member at Caliburn International.
Stanley Allen McChrystal is a retired United States Army general best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from 2003 to 2008 during which his organization was credited with the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. His final assignment was as Commander, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Commander, United States Forces – Afghanistan (USFOR-A). He previously served as Director, Joint Staff from August 2008 to June 2009. McChrystal received criticism for his alleged role in the cover-up of the Pat Tillman friendly fire incident. McChrystal was reportedly known for saying what other military leaders were thinking but were afraid to say; this was one of the reasons cited for his appointment to lead all forces in Afghanistan. He held the post from June 15, 2009, to June 23, 2010.
Robert Stiles Harward, Jr., known as Bob Harward, is a retired United States Navy SEAL and a former Deputy Commander of the United States Central Command, under the leadership command of General James Mattis. After working as a Chief Executive at Lockheed Martin for eight years, he joined Shield AI as Executive Vice President for International Business and Strategy. He also served as the Deputy Commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command and previously commanded Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435.
Mark Phillip Hertling is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General. From March 2011 to November 2012, he served as the Commanding General of United States Army Europe and the Seventh Army. Hertling served in Armor, Cavalry, planning, operations and training positions, and commanded every organization from Platoon to Field Army. He commanded the 1st Armored Division and Task Force Iron/Multinational Division-North in Iraq during the troop surge of 2007 to 2008.
Derek J. Harvey is a retired US Army Colonel who previously served on the staff of Congressman Devin Nunes, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Harvey is a former National Security Council (NSC) staffer in President Donald Trump's administration and was the first director of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Center of Excellence at U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), having been selected by General David Petraeus in 2009 to lead the new organization. Harvey was the previous senior analytical specialist for Iraq to Petraeus, then Commander, Multi-National Forces-Iraq. After being fired from both USCENTCOM and the NSC, he became a top aide to Republican congressman Devin Nunes on the House Intelligence Committee in September 2017. While in this role, Harvey worked to leak the name of the Ukraine whistle-blower, causing concern about their safety and legal protections of whistle-blowers. In 2022, Derek Harvey was elected to serve a four year term on the Board of County Commissioners in Washington County, Maryland. His term expires in 2026.
Joseph Leonard Votel is a retired four-star general in the United States Army who was commander of United States Central Command from March 2016 to March 2019. Before that, he served as commander of the United States Special Operations Command.
General Raymond Anthony Thomas III is a retired general officer of the United States Army and former commander of the United States Special Operations Command.
Joseph Keith Kellogg Jr. is a former United States government official and a retired lieutenant general in the United States Army. He previously served as the National Security Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, and as the Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff of the United States National Security Council in the Trump administration. He served as National Security Advisor on an acting basis following the resignation of Michael T. Flynn.
Ricky Lynn Waddell is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Army Reserve who served as a Deputy National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2018 and as the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2018 to 2021. His promotion to lieutenant general was authorized by the United States Senate on 26 September 2019. He retired from active military service in October 2021.
Andrea Lee Thompson is an American government official and former military officer. She is the former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs. Prior to this, she was the National Security Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence. Before entering government service, she was a career intelligence officer in the United States Army.
↑ Odierno, Raymond T. (March 2, 2012). "The Chief of Staff's Professional Reading List"(PDF). cape.army.mil/. Washington, DC: Office of the U.S. Army Chief of Staff. p.1. Archived from the original(PDF) on December 24, 2016. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
↑ Italie, Hillel (July 12, 2018). "H.R. McMaster book scheduled for 2020". The Associated Press. HarperCollins Publishers told The Associated Press on Wednesday that McMaster's 'Battlegrounds' is scheduled for 2020. The book will cover his 34-year military career and his time in the Trump administration.
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