U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday named Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his new national security adviser. McMaster is a vocal critic of the U.S. military’s handling of the Vietnam War and has become known as a counterinsurgency expert as he progressed through the ranks.
WATCH: McMaster's remarks about his new NSC position
In 2014, McMaster was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People just prior to being chosen to lead the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command’s Army Capabilities Integration Center. In this role, McMaster was seen as the architect of the Army, leading it into the future.
McMaster graduated from West Point and later earned a Silver Star for leadership during the Gulf War when, as a cavalry commander, he led a small contingent of U.S. tanks to destroy 80 Iraqi tanks.
During the Iraq War, McMaster commanded the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in its mission to remove insurgent fighters from the city of Tal Afar. The tactics McMaster employed in securing the city were seen as pioneering at the time.
McMaster wrote a doctoral dissertation about the Vietnam War that later became the book Dereliction of Duty in which he criticizes the Joint Chiefs of Staff for failing in their duty to provide President Lyndon Johnson with adequate military advice.
The book has since become recommended reading for all Army officers.
McMaster is one of several Trump advisers with military backgrounds. Trump has also named retired officers as his secretaries of homeland security and defense.
