Matt Pottinger | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Matt Pottinger in June 2024 | |||||||
| 32ndUnited States Principal Deputy National Security Advisor | |||||||
| In office September 22, 2019 – January 7, 2021 | |||||||
| President | Donald Trump | ||||||
| Preceded by | Charles Kupperman | ||||||
| Succeeded by | Jonathan Finer | ||||||
| Personal details | |||||||
| Born | Matthew Forbes Pottinger 1973 (age 51–52)[1] | ||||||
| Spouse | |||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||
| Parent |
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| Education | University of Massachusetts, Amherst (BA) | ||||||
| Military service | |||||||
| Allegiance |  United States | ||||||
| Branch/service |  United States Marine Corps | ||||||
| Years of service | 2005–2010 (active) 2010–present (reserve) | ||||||
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel | ||||||
| Battles/wars | Iraq War War in Afghanistan | ||||||
| Awards | Bronze Star Combat Action Ribbon Defense Meritorious Service Medal | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Chinese | 博明 | ||||||
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Matthew Forbes Pottinger (/ˈpɒtɪndʒər/POT-in-jər;[2] born 1973) is an American former journalist andU.S. Marine Corps officer who served as theUnited States deputy national security advisor from September 22, 2019 to January 7, 2021.[3] Previously Asia director on theNational Security Council since 2017, his tenure was unusual among senior aides serving under President Trump for its length, given an administration marked by high turnover.[4] Pottinger worked to develop the Trump administration's policies towards China.[5][6]
Pottinger resigned in the afternoon of January 6, in response to the2021 United States Capitol attack. He left theWhite House the following morning.[7]
Pottinger currently serves as Chairman of the China Program at theFoundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).[8]
Pottinger is the son of author and former Department of Justice officialJ. Stanley Pottinger.[9] He was educated atMilton Academy and was a schoolmate and childhood friend ofJohn Avlon.[10][11][12] Pottinger graduated from theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst with aBachelor of Arts degree inChinese studies and is fluent inMandarin.[13]
Before he joined theUnited States Marine Corps, Pottinger worked as a journalist forReuters between 1998 and 2001.[14][9] Then he moved toThe Wall Street Journal until his retirement from journalism in 2005.[9] For four years, he was a regular guest on theJohn Batchelor Show radio program. His stories won awards from the Society of Publishers in Asia. He covered a variety of topics, including theSARS epidemic and the2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami; in the latter assignment, he met United States Marines and was inspired by their courage.[14][9] He spent seven years reporting inChina.[15][16]
Pottinger's career switch was motivated by his experience in China and theIraq War. By 2004, Pottinger had "sort of a sense of unease that China was not really going to converge with the more liberal order." He believed that when it was powerful enough, China would "influence the world on its own terms, on the terms of the ruling party." As he watched the first phase of Iraq War unfold from a distant location in China, he was a bit troubled that "as a nation, the administration, the Congress and to a great extent the press as well had misjudged the nature of conflict." China's rise and the Iraq War had made him realize that democracy is "not inevitable and it shouldn't be taken for granted but it is a form of government very much worth fighting for."[17]
In September 2005, Pottinger joined the Marine Corps and served as amilitary intelligence officer.[9] He was over-aged and out of shape when he joined. To meet the physical qualifications, he worked out with a Marine officer who was living in Beijing.[9] He served three deployments: one (together withMike Gallagher) inIraq from April to November 2007, and two inAfghanistan from November 2008 to May 2009 and July 2009 to May 2010.[18] On his second tour in Afghanistan, he metU.S. Army GeneralMichael T. Flynn, with whom he co-wrote a report.[9][19] The report, published in January 2010 through theCenter for a New American Security, was titledFixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan.[20] After he left active service, Pottinger worked inNew York City, including for thehedge fundDavidson Kempner Capital Management.[9]
A 2018Politico profile described Pottinger as "a fairly typical conservative internationalist" who "has never been a Trump-style #MAGA conservative" and who donated to both Democrats and Republicans.[21] In 2017, he was hired as a member of theU.S. National Security Council of theadministration ofDonald Trump.[22][23][24] Michael Flynn, whom Pottinger had worked for in the military, made him the NSC's Asia director, and he remained in his position underH. R. McMaster andJohn Bolton.[citation needed]
In 2018, after a proposed summit with North Korea had been cancelled,[25]The New York Times reported that "a senior White House official told reporters that even if the meeting were reinstated, holding it on June 12 would be impossible, given the lack of time and the amount of planning needed."[26][27] The President subsequently alleged that theNew York Times had made up the existence of the unnamed White House official;[28] on Twitter, journalistYashar Ali later posted audio of Pottinger giving the officially organized background briefing cited by theTimes,[29] in which, without actually using the word "impossible", he responded to a reporter's question about the feasibility of the originally scheduled date by saying "We've lost quite a bit of time that we would need" and "June 12th is in ten minutes."[30][21]
In his NSC position, Pottinger advocated a tough stance on China that combined trade policy with national security.[21][31] In September 2019, newly installed National Security AdvisorRobert C. O'Brien named PottingerDeputy National Security Advisor.[32]
Because of his contacts in China, he was an early voice in the Trump administration pushing for more COVID-19 precautions and called for travel ban with China. On January 28, Pottinger met with President Trump and told him that some people in China were testing positive for COVID-19 with no symptoms, which was later confirmed by a NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine) article.[33][34]
In May 2020, he gave a speech in Mandarin regarding theCOVID-19 pandemic.[35] During a virtual conversation hosted by theRonald Reagan Presidential Foundation on September 30, 2020, Pottinger was asked about the national security implication of Chinese students in the United States. In response, he said "the great majority are people that we're glad to have here and many will stay here and start great businesses." He said it is that one percent of Chinese students that are under contract and have an obligation to bring back everything they know to serve the state back in China.[17]
He wassanctioned by China, in January 2021, alongside 28 other Trump administration officials for alleged violations of China’s sovereignty.[36] President Biden's National Security Council called the sanctions "unproductive and cynical."[37]
Pottinger resigned on January 6, 2021, following theU.S. Capitol attack in which supporters of PresidentDonald Trump invaded the U.S. Capitol building to halt the certification ofPresident-elect Joe Biden's lawful electoral college victory.[7][38]
In 2021, Pottinger joined theHoover Institution as a distinguished fellow and is a participant on its "China's Global Sharp Power Project" research team.[39] He serves as chairman of theFoundation for Defense of Democracies' China Program.[40]
In February 2023, Pottinger testified before theUnited States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party that it had been confirmed thatByteDance had usedTikTok to surveil American journalists to identify and retaliate against potentialsources.[41]
In 2014, Pottinger married Dr. Yen Duong, a virologist who immigrated to the United States as a child after she and her family fled Vietnam following theVietnam War. They have two children and live inUtah.[5][42]
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