Maj Gen McMaster is a great choice.
His book, which was originally his thesis, is required reading for all officers and is on the USMC Commandant’s reading list.
It tells a very sad and sordid tale.
An administration that was so obsessed with domestic policies and politics that it failed to properly conduct the war in Vietnam.
Worst still, a Joint Chiefs who because of rivalries and political pressure were unable to properly advice the President or even to tell the truth of what was really going on.
....Sound familiar?
Maj Gen McMaster is a blunt talking hard charging officer who has never been afraid to speak his mind and to step on toes.
He was passed up for promotion to Brig Gen twice because of that.
It took the combined efforts of Gen Petraus and SecArmy Geren to get him his first star.
“Worst still, a Joint Chiefs who because of rivalries and political pressure were unable to properly advice the President or even to tell the truth of what was really going on.”
Not exactly.
At the beginning of the book McMaster describes how JFK dismantled the national security advisory structure that he inherited from Eisenhower.
This cut the JCS out of the decision making loop. They no longer could hear policy debates nor offer their input.
LBJ took this bad policy up several notches, consciously lying to the JCS with McNamara and Taylor playing along. And they exploited interservice rivalry to keep the JCS from ever forming a unified front to challenge the terrible strategy that they were being required to implement.
It took the combined efforts of Gen Petraus and SecArmy Geren to get him his first star.
And it took the combined efforts of Hagel and Obama to get him his third star. I’ll reserve judgement here until we have some facts in his role as NSA.