Herbert Raymond McMaster (born July 24, 1962) is a retiredUnited States Armylieutenant general who served as the 25thUnited States National Security Advisor from 2017 to 2018. He is also known for his roles in theGulf War,Operation Enduring Freedom, andOperation Iraqi Freedom.
Born inPhiladelphia, McMaster graduated from theUnited States Military Academy in 1984 and earned aPh.D. inAmerican history from theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996. His dissertation was critical of American strategy and military leadership during theVietnam War and served as the basis for his bookDereliction of Duty, was a NYT Bestseller and is widely read in the United States military.[3] During the Gulf War, then Captain McMaster commanded Eagle Troop,2nd Cavalry Regiment in theBattle of 73 Easting.
After the Gulf War, McMaster attended graduate school at UNC Chapel Hill then taughtmilitary history at the United States Military Academy from 1994 to 1996. After serving as a squadron executive officer and a regimental operations officer in the 11th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Irwin, California, he commanded the 1st Squadron 4th Cavalry at Schweinfurt, Germany from 1999 to 2002. After an Army War College Fellowship at theHoover Institution, Stanford University, he served as an executive officer and director of the Commander's Advisory Group atUnited States Central Command forward headquarters command in Qatar. In 2004, he took command of the3rd Cavalry Regiment and fought theIraqi insurgency in South Baghdad andTal Afar from 2005 to 2006 after which he became a topcounterinsurgency advisor toGeneralDavid Petraeus in Baghdad from 2007 to 2008. Brigadier General McMaster was the Director of Concept Development and Learning at the U.S.Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) from 2008 to 2010. From 2010 to 2012, he commanded Task Force Shafafiyat (Transparency),International Security Assistance Force inAfghanistan. Major General McMaster commanded Fort Benning, Georgia and the Maneuver Center of Excellence from 2012 to 2014. In 2014, Lieutenant General McMaster became Director of theArmy Capabilities Integration Center and Deputy Commanding General (Futures) at TRADOC.
In February 2017, McMaster succeededMichael Flynn as PresidentDonald Trump's National Security Advisor. He remained on active duty as alieutenant general while serving as National Security Advisor, and retired in May 2018.[4][5] McMaster resigned as National Security Advisor on March 22, 2018, effective April 9,[6][7][8] and accepted an academic appointment at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, in 2018.[9]
McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at theHoover Institution, the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow at theFreeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a lecturer in management at theStanford Graduate School of Business.[10][11][12] He is also a distinguished visiting fellow at Arizona State University.
H.R. McMaster was born in Philadelphia on July 24, 1962.[13] His father, Herbert McMaster Sr., was a veteran of theKorean War who retired from the Army as alieutenant colonel.[14] His mother, Marie C. "Mimi" McMaster (née Curcio),[15] was a school teacher and administrator.[16] He has a younger sister, Letitia.[16] He attended Norwood Fontbonne Academy, graduating in 1976; and high school atValley Forge Military Academy, graduating in 1980. He earned a commission as a second lieutenant upon graduating from theUnited States Military Academy at West Point in 1984.[17]
McMaster earned aMaster of Arts andPh.D. inAmerican history from theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Histhesis was critical of American strategy in theVietnam War, which was further detailed in his NYT bestselling bookDereliction of Duty (1997).[18] The book details how and why theVietnam War became an American war.[19] It harshly criticized high-ranking officers of the era, arguing that they inadequately challengedSecretary of DefenseRobert McNamara andPresidentLyndon B. Johnson on their Vietnam strategy. The book examines McNamara and Johnson's staff alongside theJoint Chiefs of Staff and other high-ranking military officers, and their failure to provide a successful plan of action either to pacify aViet Cong insurgency or to decisively defeat theNorth Vietnamese Army. McMaster also details why military actions intended to indicate "resolve" or to "communicate" ultimately failed when trying to accomplish ambiguous, confusing, and conflicting military objectives. The book was reportedly much read inPentagon circles and included in military reading lists.[20][21]
McMaster's first assignment after commissioning was to the2nd Armored Division atFort Hood, where he served in a variety ofplatoon andcompany-level leadership assignments with1st Battalion 66th Armor Regiment. In 1989, he was assigned to the2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment atWarner Barracks inBamberg, Germany, where he served until 1992, including deployment toOperation Desert Storm.
During theGulf War in 1991 McMaster was acaptain commanding Eagle Troop of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment at theBattle of 73 Easting.[22] During that battle, though significantly outnumbered and encountering the enemy by surprise as McMaster's lead tank crested a dip in the terrain, the nine tanks of histroop destroyed 28 IraqiRepublican Guard tanks[23] without loss in 23 minutes.[24]
McMaster was awarded theSilver Star. The now famous battle is featured in several books aboutOperation Desert Storm and is widely referred to in US Army training exercises. It was also discussed inTom Clancy's 1994 popular nonfiction bookArmored Cav.[25]
McMaster served as a military history professor at West Point from 1994 to 1996, teaching among other things the battles in which he fought. He graduated from theUnited States Army Command and General Staff College in 1999.[26]
McMaster commanded1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, from 1999 to 2002, and then took a series of staff positions atU.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM), including planning and operations roles in Iraq.
In his next job, aslieutenant colonel and latercolonel, McMaster worked on the staff of USCENTCOM asexecutive officer to Deputy CommanderLieutenant GeneralJohn Abizaid. When Abizaid receivedfour-star rank and became Central Command's head, McMaster served as Director, Commander's Advisory Group (CAG), described as the command'sbrain trust.
In 2003 McMaster completed anArmy War College research fellowship atStanford University'sHoover Institution. In 2004, he was assigned to command the3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (3rd ACR). Shortly after McMaster took command the regiment deployed for its second tour in Iraq and was assigned the mission of securing the city ofTal Afar. That mission culminated in September withOperation Restoring Rights and the defeat of the city's insurgent strongholds. PresidentGeorge W. Bush praised this success, and thePBS showFrontline broadcast a documentary in February 2006 featuring interviews with McMaster. CBS's60 Minutes produced a similar segment in July,[27] and the operation was the subject of an article in the April 10, 2006, issue ofThe New Yorker.
AuthorTim Harford has written that the pioneering tactics employed by 3rd ACR led to the first success in overcoming theIraqi insurgency. Before 2005, tactics included staying out of dangerous urban areas except on patrols, with US forces returning to theirbases each night. These patrols had little success in turning back the insurgency because local Iraqis who feared retaliation would very rarely assist in identifying them to US forces. McMaster deployed his soldiers into Tal Afar on a permanent basis, and once the local population grew confident that they weren't going to withdraw nightly, the citizens began providing information on the insurgents, enabling US forces to target and defeat them.[25][28] After hearing of McMaster'scounterinsurgency success in Tal Afar, Vice PresidentDick Cheney invited McMaster to personally brief him on the situation in Iraq and give an assessment on what changes needed to be made to American strategy.[29]
McMaster passed command of the 3rd ACR on June 29, 2006, and joined theInternational Institute for Strategic Studies in London, as a Senior Research Associate tasked to "conduct research to identify opportunities for improved multi-national cooperation and political-military integration in the areas of counterinsurgency, counter-terrorism, and state building", and to devise "better tactics to battle terrorism."[30]
From August 2007 to August 2008, McMaster was part of an "elite team of officers advising U.S. commander" GeneralDavid Petraeus on counterinsurgency operations while Petraeus directed revision of the Army's Counterinsurgency Field Manual during his command of the Combined Arms Center.[31] Petraeus and most of his team were stationed inFort Leavenworth at the time but McMaster collaborated remotely, according to senior team memberJohn Nagl.[25][28]
Based on his date of rank as a colonel, McMaster was considered for promotion tobrigadier general by annual Department of the Army selection boards in 2006 and 2007 but was not selected, despite his reputation as one of "the most celebrated soldiers of the Iraq War."[32][33][34][35] Though the Army's rationale for whether a given officer is selected is not made public, McMaster's initial non-selection attracted considerable media attention.[36][37][38] In late 2007,Secretary of the ArmyPete Geren requested that Petraeus return from Iraq to take charge of the promotion board as a way to ensure that the best performers in combat received every consideration for advancement, resulting in McMaster's selection along with other colonels who had been identified as innovative thinkers.[25][39]
In August 2008, McMaster assumed duties as Director, Concept Development and Experimentation (later renamed Concept Development and Learning), in theArmy Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) atFort Monroe,Virginia, part ofU.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. In this position he was involved in preparing doctrine to guide the Army over the next 10 to 20 years. He was promoted on June 29, 2009.[40] Of the 978 members of the West Point Class of 1984 commissioned into the U.S. Army, McMaster was the second promoted to General Officer.[41] In July 2010 he was selected to be the J-5, Deputy to the Commander for Planning, at ISAF (International Security Assistance Forces) Headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan.
McMaster was nominated formajor general on January 23, 2012, and selected to be the commander of the Army's Maneuver Center of Excellence atFort Benning.[42] In February 2014,Defense SecretaryChuck Hagel nominated McMaster forlieutenant general.
In July 2014, McMaster pinned on his third star when he began his duties as Deputy Commanding General of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command and Director ofTRADOC's ARCIC.[43] He would spend three years at that position before he moved into the political realm.[44]
Army Chief of Staff GeneralMartin Dempsey remarked in 2011 that McMaster was "probably our best Brigadier General."[45] McMaster madeTime's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in April 2014. He was hailed as "the architect of the future U.S. Army" in the accompanying piece written by retired Lt. Gen.David Barno, who commanded U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005. "Major General Herbert Raymond McMaster might be the 21st century Army's pre-eminent warrior-thinker," Barno wrote, commenting on McMaster's "impressive command and unconventional exploits in the second Iraq war."[46] Barno also wrote, "Recently tapped for his third star, H. R. is also the rarest of soldiers—one who has repeatedly bucked the system and survived to join its senior ranks."[47]
McMaster requested his retirement from the Army following his March 22, 2018, resignation as President Trump's National Security Adviser,[48] asking that he leave the service "this summer."[49]
On February 20, 2017, U.S. PresidentDonald Trump nominated McMaster forNational Security Advisor following the resignation ofMichael T. Flynn[50][51] on February 13.[52] Trump asked McMaster to remain on active duty while he served as national security advisor.[53][54]
Because McMaster intended to remain on active duty, his official assumption of the National Security Advisor's duties and responsibilities required aUnited States Senate vote;lieutenant generals andgenerals require Senate confirmation of their rank and assignments.[55] On March 6, 2017, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 23–2 to recommend to the full Senate that McMaster be confirmed for reappointment at his lieutenant general rank during his service as the National Security Advisor.[56] The committee recommendation was referred to the Senate on March 7, and the full Senate confirmed McMaster by a vote of 86–10 on March 15, 2017.[57]
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In early August, McMaster was targeted by what some deemed a "smear campaign" after he fired severalNational Security Council staff members.[58][59][60] White House officials and journalists suspectedSteve Bannon of leading these attacks.[61][62] AttorneyMike Cernovich, radio hostAlex Jones andBreitbart News were among the foremost promoters of the anti-McMaster campaign; Cernovich's website for the campaign also included a cartoon depicting McMaster, which theAnti-Defamation League (ADL) labeledantisemitic.[63][64] In addition, theCenter for Security Policy criticized McMaster for being insufficientlyconservative and for not supporting Trump's agenda.[65][66][67] The Russian intelligence services used internet bots and trolls to campaign to get McMaster out. The anti-McMaster campaign prompted dismissive responses by administration officials, and a statement from Trump affirming his confidence in McMaster.[68][69]
In February 2018, McMaster said that it was "incontrovertible" that Russia interfered in the2016 presidential election. McMaster, who spoke a day after a federal grand jury indicted more than a dozen Russians in connection with the interference, was addressing an international audience at the Munich Security Conference, including several Russian officials.[70]
On March 15, 2018, it was reported that Trump had decided to dismiss McMaster from his position at a later, unspecified date.White House Press SecretarySarah Huckabee Sanders denied the reports in a tweet, claiming nothing had changed at theNational Security Council.[71]
On March 22, 2018, McMaster resigned as National Security Advisor. He said in a statement that he planned to retire from the military sometime in the next few months.[4] Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley asked McMaster to compete for four-star positions, but McMaster had decided to retire from the Army after leaving the job as National Security Advisor. Trump announcedJohn Bolton, formerU.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, as McMaster's replacement.[6] McMaster's ousting closely followed the departures of several other high-ranking officials in the administration, including Trump's longtime assistant andcommunications directorHope Hicks,national economic advisorGary Cohn, andSecretary of StateRex Tillerson.[72] Trump first announced McMaster's departure from the administration via a publictweet which thanked McMaster and stated that McMaster would "always be my friend."[7][8][73]
McMaster's retirement ceremony was held on May 18, 2018. It took place atJoint Base Myer–Henderson Hall, and was presided over by GeneralMark A. Milley, theArmy Chief of Staff.[74] Among the decorations and honors McMaster received was a third award of theArmy Distinguished Service Medal.[75]
In September 2018, McMaster began work as a Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow atStanford University'sFreeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.[76] He was appointed to the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellowship at Stanford'sHoover Institution and serves as a lecturer in strategy atStanford Graduate School of Business[77] effective September 1, 2018, as that institution had announced on July 2 that year.[78]
In 2019, McMaster became an Advisory Board Member ofSpirit of America, a501(c)(3) organization that supports deployed US personnel.[79] In 2020, McMaster became a board member ofZoom Video Communications,[80] and advisor toMischler Financial Group Inc.[81] He is Chairman of Ergo's Flashpoints Forum, a consultancy firm. In 2021, McMaster joined the National Security Advisory Board of venture capital firm, Shield Capital, as Senior Advisor.[82] In September 2021, McMaster joined the advisory board of thegeospatial-intelligence corporation Edgybees.[83] In January 2022, he joined the advisory board ofStrider Technologies,[84] a software firm focused on economic statecraft risk vis-à-vis strategic competition with China.[85]
In 2021 McMaster was appointed Distinguished University Fellow atArizona State University[44] where he serves as a subject matter expert on national security and defense issues. Also serving as an Arizona State University guest lecturer,[86] he guides and mentors students, and hosts special events surrounding national security and defense to advance Arizona State University's lead in competitive statecraft.
In September 2021 McMaster was removed from theUnited States Military Academy's Board of Visitors by PresidentJoe Biden as part of a mass removal of 18 Trump appointees[87] on the boards of the three service branches.[88]The Heritage Foundation deplored the purge; at the time it was thought that some of the 18 would contest the presidential decision in court.[89] White House press secretaryJen Psaki said that the Biden administration "was seeking to ensure that board members were 'qualified to serve' and aligned with the president's values."[90]
HarperCollins published McMaster's memoir of his time working as National Security Advisor in the Trump White House,At War with Ourselves – My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House in late August 2024.[91] He was interviewed byAnderson Cooper at length especially about the history of Trump'sdecision to settle a deal with the Taliban and exclude the government of theIslamic Republic of Afghanistan from the negotiations.[92]
HarperCollins published McMaster's second NYT bestselling book,Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World in September 2020.[93] The book is structured in seven parts, each concerning an area of interest for foreign policy, with autobiographical details strewn throughout. The areas are Russia, China, South Asia, the Middle East, Iran and North Korea. The final part is about "Arenas", which concludes his vision of foreign policy for the United States.
Positive reviews of the book included one by Cliff May, founder and president ofFoundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), who said of the book "... with H. R.'s thoughtful, substantive, and intellectual approach.Battlegrounds lives up to this expectation, and then some. As a historian, as well as a soldier and strategist, General McMaster explores the development of the complex challenges facing America in the 21st Century."[94] Another positive review was that of Steve Cohen, an attorney at Pollock Cohen LLP in New York and a former member of the U.S. Naval Institute Board of Directors, who said it was "... a sober, thoughtful, intelligent volume that deserves shelf space for anyone serious about U.S. foreign policy in the first part of the 21st century."[95]
McMaster is the author ofDereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies that Led to Vietnam and has co-authored several other books on foreign policy. In 2024, he publishedAt War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House about his time as Trump's National Security Advisor, portraying Trump as "unfit for office"[96] and a vain and insecure leader who was susceptible to flattery and to be taken advantage of by foreign leaders such as China'sXi Jinping, Russia'sVladimir Putin, and Turkey'sRecep Tayyip Erdoğan.[97][98]
McMaster hosts the video and podcast seriesInternational Perspectives on Crucial Challenges to Security and Prosperity.
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite press release}}:|last= has generic name (help)HarperCollins Publishers told The Associated Press on Wednesday that McMaster's 'Battlegrounds' is scheduled for 2020. The book will cover his 34-year military career and his time in the Trump administration.
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