H.R. McMaster Returns to Hoover Institution

Here is more from the Wall Street Journal:

H.R. McMaster, pushed out in April as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, is joining Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, where he hopes to develop bipartisan national security ideas.

Mr. McMaster, who struggled to retain influence in the fractious White House, said, as a senior fellow, he hopes his work can influence national security policy as the U.S. works to combat rising threats from rivals such as Russia and China.

While working at Hoover, Mr. McMaster said he also is planning to write a book. But those looking for a tell-all tale of West Wing intrigue are likely to be disappointed. Mr. McMaster said he plans to write a substantive book about national security.

Mr. McMaster first worked at Hoover in 2002 as a national security affairs fellow and then served as a visiting fellow from 2003 to 2017. He will now become the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow, a post commemorating the Middle East scholar who was friends with Mr. McMaster.

It was already expected that McMaster would return to think tank land.  Here is a Think Tank Watch post about conservatives attacking McMaster for his previous think tank work.

McMaster Shopping Himself to Think Tank Land

White House National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who is rumored to be leaving that position soon, may be returning to the think tank he once belonged to.  Here is more from CNN:

Two sources with knowledge of the matter said McMaster has talked to senior leadership at the Hoover Institution about a position there once he finishes at the White House. But another source emphasized that "no deal or arrangement has been finalized."

From 2002-2003, McMaster was a Visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, and he has also been affiliated with other think tanks, as Think Tank Watch has previously reported.

During the summer, conservatives attacked McMaster for his affiliation with the UK-based think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

Conservatives Attack McMaster for Work at Think Tank

Here is more from the conservative news site Breitbart:

White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster served at a UK-based think tank financed by a controversial, George Soros-funded group identified by the Obama White House as central in helping to sell the Iran nuclear deal to the public and news media.

From September 2006 to February 2017, McMaster is listed as a member of International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), where he served as consulting senior fellow.  The IISS describes itself as a “world-leading authority on global security, political risk and military conflict.”

The IISS has been supportive of the Obama administration-brokered 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, and the group has repeatedly hit back against charges that Tehran has violated the agreement.

McMaster himself has been accused of purging the National Security Council of hardliners on Iran, and he is seen as a leading proponent of the Iran nuclear accord within the Trump administration. He has reportedly urged the White House to recertify Iran’s compliance with the Iran nuclear deal.

IISS’s website contains a list of groups, corporations and government entities that provide funding to the think tank, including during the period of McMaster’s work there. Curiously missing from the page of donors, however, is the controversial Ploughshares Fund, a grantmaking group identified last year by the Obama White House as central in helping to market the Iran nuclear deal to the news media.

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch piece on McMasters' various connections to think tanks.

Trump Chooses Another Think Tanker for Top Security Post

President Donald Trump continues to rely on think tankers for his top ranks in the Administration, and his newest pick for the National Security Adviser post, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, is a longtime think tanker.

McMaster was a National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institution from 2002-2003, and is a Visiting Fellow at the think tank, which is housed within Stanford University.  His think tank writings can be found here.

McMaster is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and was formerly a Senior Consulting Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London.

He has also given speeches at a number of other think tanks, including this 2013 event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), this 2014 event there, and another one at that think tank in 2016.

Here is a statement from Hoover Director Tom Gilligan on the appointment of McMaster to the Trump Administration.

McMaster is not the only one from Hoover who now has a top post in the Trump Administration.  For example, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was also affiliated with the think tank.