President Donald Trump on Friday will name Rear Adm. Douglas Fears as his new homeland security adviser, the latest reshuffling to occur within the White House National Security Council, according to an administration official.
The move comes nearly two months after Tom Bossert was abruptly ousted as Trump’s White House homeland security adviser after National Security Council staff complained about Bossert’s management and lengthy meetings, according to people familiar with the matter. Bossert left after John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, took over as national security adviser and moved to consolidate power, the people said.
Adm. Fears, who has spent more than 30 years serving in the U.S. Coast Guard, has been serving as an acting homeland security adviser in recent weeks. He had been scheduled to leave the National Security Council and take command of the U.S. Coast Guard Cyber Command later this month, before he was asked to be homeland security adviser.
Fears will hold the rank of deputy assistant to the president, a notch lower than the position of assistant to the president held by his predecessor, Bossert, whose level of authority was equal to that of Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who served as Trump’s national security adviser until he was replaced by Bolton.
An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com.[1] ...
References
- ^ An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com. (www.wsj.com)