Herbert Raymond McMaster is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 25th United States National Security Advisor from 2017 to 2018. He is also known for his roles in the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Jeffrey D. "J.D." Gordon is an American communications and foreign policy adviser, who served as a Pentagon spokesman during the George W. Bush administration and later a national security adviser to Donald Trump. Gordon is a retired United States Navy officer who was a senior adviser to numerous prominent Republican political figures. Gordon has also been a television commentator and columnist with various media outlets including One America News Network, Fox News, Sky News, The Daily Caller, USA Today, The Hill, The Washington Times and others. Gordon founded Protect America Today, a national security–themed Super PAC in February 2012.
Robert Charles O'Brien Jr. is an American attorney who served as the twenty-seventh United States national security advisor from 2019 to 2021. He was the fourth and final person to hold the position during the first presidency of Donald Trump. He is currently the chairman of the American Global Strategies firm advising companies on international politics, the U.S. government, and crisis management.
Richard R. Burt is an American businessman and diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Germany and was a chief negotiator of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Prior to his diplomatic career, Burt worked as director of a non-governmental organization and from 1977 to 1980 was a national security correspondent for The New York Times.
Michael Thomas Flynn is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who was the 24th U.S. national security advisor for the first 22 days of the first Trump administration. He resigned in light of reports that he had lied regarding conversations with Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak. Flynn's military career included a key role in shaping U.S. counterterrorism strategy and dismantling insurgent networks in the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, and he was given numerous combat arms, conventional, and special operations senior intelligence assignments. He became the 18th director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in July 2012 until his forced retirement from the military in August 2014. During his tenure he gave a lecture on leadership at the Moscow headquarters of the Russian military intelligence directorate GRU, the first American official to be admitted entry to the headquarters.
Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan is an American attorney who served as the U.S. National Security Advisor from 2021 to 2025 under president Joe Biden.
The first presidential transition of Donald Trump began when he won the United States presidential election on November 8, 2016, and became the president-elect. Trump was formally elected by the Electoral College on December 19, 2016. The transition was formerly led by Chris Christie until he and a number of his supporters were replaced or demoted on November 11. The results were certified by a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2017, and the transition ended when Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017.
Boris Epshteyn is an American Republican political strategist, attorney, and investment banker. He was a strategic advisor on Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign and has remained a close advisor to Trump in his inter-presidency. He was the chief political commentator at Sinclair Broadcast Group until December 2019. He was also a senior advisor to Trump's 2016 campaign for President of the United States, and previously worked on John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. Following Trump's election, he was named director of communications for the Presidential Inaugural Committee, and then assistant communications director for surrogate operations in the White House Office, until he resigned in March 2017. He was a member of a team of Trump lawyers who sought to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election. In April 2024, Epshteyn was indicted in Arizona for his alleged in role in the fake elector plot for the state.
Marc T. Short is an American political advisor who served as chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence. Prior to holding this role, Short was the director of legislative affairs at the White House from 2017 to 2018. He became chief of staff for Pence in March 2019. He was a senior fellow at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, a CNN contributor, chief of staff to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, and the House Republican Conference. He was president of Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce from 2011 to 2016. He was a frequent guest on Meet The Press of NBC News.
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.
Michael George Glen Waltz is an American politician, businessman, author, and colonel for the 20th Special Forces Group within the Florida Army National Guard who is the 29th and current U.S. National Security Advisor. He previously served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 6th congressional district from 2019 to 2025. He is a member of the Republican Party and is the first "Green Beret" to be elected to the United States Congress.
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.
Charles Martin Kupperman is a former United States Deputy National Security Advisor for President Donald Trump, a position he held from January to September 2019. He also was the acting United States National Security Advisor for eight days in September 2019 between John Bolton and Robert C. O'Brien.
Earl G. Matthews is an American government official and attorney who held senior positions within the Department of the Army and at the White House during the administration of President Donald Trump. Matthews was a member of Trump's Department of Defense transition team and was appointed as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense, James N. Mattis on January 20, 2017. Matthews was subsequently appointed as the Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Army on June 21, 2019. He served as Acting General Counsel of the Army from June 21, 2017, until James E. McPherson was sworn in as General Counsel on January 2, 2018.
This is a chronology of significant events in 2016 and 2017 related to the many suspicious links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies during the Trump presidential transition and the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Following the timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections before and after July 2016, this article begins on November 8 and ends with Donald Trump and Mike Pence being sworn into office on January 20, 2017. The investigations continued in the first and second halves of 2017, the first and second halves of 2018, the first and second halves of 2019, 2020, and 2021.
John A. Eisenberg is an American lawyer who served as a deputy counsel to the President of the United States and legal advisor to the U.S. National Security Council during the first presidency of Donald Trump. He was selected by former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Earlier in his career, from 2006 to 2009, he served in the Department of Justice.
Jennifer Leigh Williams is an American United States Department of State official who has served as a special advisor to U.S. vice president Mike Pence on European and Russian affairs. Williams testified under subpoena, in the impeachment hearings of Donald Trump, in closed-door hearings before the House intelligence, Oversight, and Foreign Affairs committees on November 9, 2019. She gave public testimony to the House of Representatives ten days later.
The core White House staff appointments, and most Executive Office of the President officials generally, are not required to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, with a handful of exceptions. There are about 4,000 positions in the Executive Office of the President.
Olivia Troye is an American national security official who worked on national security and homeland security issues at the National Counterterrorism Center, the United States Department of Energy Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis.
Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President role is to advise the Vice President on all matters of national security and provide input to the National Security Council and serves as the primary foreign policy and national security lead in the Office of the Vice President of the United States.
