According to defense and White House administration officials, the Pentagon is considering ways that could allow President Donald Trump to potentially move his national security adviser, Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond McMaster, out of his current role and back into the military.
The report comes after months of personal tensions between the president and the three-star general, sources say. According to CNN, a search is quietly being conducted by the Pentagon to see if there is a four-star military job suited for McMaster, these officials said.
However, the task of easing McMaster out of his role as national security adviser presents a unique challenge for the White House. While administration officials have privately said the preference is to move McMaster into a position within the Army or Defense Department that qualifies as a promotion, many within the Pentagon feel the general has become politicized in the White House and are against him returning to the military in a prominent role.
Meanwhile, several defense officials warned that the president could also decide not to offer him a fourth star and force him to retire. McMaster has found himself in a similar position before, where his job may be in jeopardy and according to some sources, McMaster’s has been on thin ice for months.
CNN also reported that there was a discussion in the West Wing about replacing him last fall, but he ultimately survived because officials, including the president himself, were skeptical about the optics of appointing a third national security adviser in less than a year.
However, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders Tuesday stated that Trump “still has confidence in General McMaster.”
Previously, Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned as a result of him being in contact with Russian officials within a month of taking the job.
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