FP: Bolton’s Pick for Deputy Could Roil Pentagon Relations

National Security Advisor John Bolton’s choice for his deputy passes the loyalty litmus test for President Donald Trump, but it could signal yet more headwind for Defense Secretary James Mattis, Foreign Policy reported.

Last weekend, Bolton named Mira Ricardel, currently the undersecretary of commerce for export administration and a former Boeing executive, as Deputy National Security Advisor. Having worked on the President’s 2016 campaign and helped the White House transition team after the election, Ricardel comes with unassailable credentials as a Trump supporter.

Ricardel’s history with Trump will help bolster Bolton’s status with a president fixated with loyalty, but it could also create more friction between Mattis and the rest of the new national security team, according to four sources with ties to the administration.

According to FP, Bolton’s appointment and the sacking of former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has created an uncertain landscape for Mattis, who has often played a moderating influence – with support from Tillerson and others – to an inexperienced and impulsive president.

During this month, Mattis reportedly successfully convinced the President not to undertake larger-scale military action against Syria that Trump initially favored. However, Bolton and, to some extent, CIA Director Mike Pompeo hold more hard-line, hawkish views than Mattis. Bolton has previously argued for preemptive strikes on North Korea and Iran, FP added.

Ricardel is more ideologically aligned with Bolton than Mattis, sources say. When Bolton met Mattis last month after being named national security advisor, the defense secretary tried to make light of Bolton’s public image as an ultra-hard-line hawk.

Ricardel was brought in as the lead White House official on personnel decisions at the Defense Department after the inauguration, as the Trump team had soured on John Gallagher, who was deemed too close to Mattis and other top brass, a Republican congressional aide says, FP writes.

She helped shoot down Mattis’s initial picks for top jobs at the Pentagon, including Anne Patterson, a retired senior diplomat who served as ambassador to Pakistan and Egypt, for undersecretary of defense for policy, the No. 3 position at the Defense Department. Mattis also ended up abandoning plans to name Michèle Flournoy, who served in the Pentagon during President Barack Obama’s administration, as deputy defense secretary.

The discord between Ricardel and Mattis held up nominations for key policy positions for months and derailed prospects for Ricardel to serve as undersecretary of defense for policy. In the end, she took a job at the Commerce Department, and Mattis later named John Rood to the undersecretary position.

Ricardel moves into her new role as several senior officials on the National Security Council (NSC) follow H.R. McMaster, the former national security advisor, out the door.

In Bolton’s first week on the job, Michael Anton, the NSC’s top press spokesman; Nadia Schadlow, the deputy national security advisor for strategy; and Ricky Waddell, the deputy national security advisor overseeing day-to-day operations, announced plans to step down. Schadlow, who wrote the President’s National Security Strategy, was in the deputy role only since January. Trump’s homeland security advisor, Tom Bossert, also was unexpectedly pushed of his job this month, reportedly at Bolton’s request, and his deputy, cybersecurity coordinator Rob Joyce, also will depart and return to the National Security Agency.