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US President Donald Trump has named Robert C. O’Brien as his new national security adviser. In a tweet Wednesday afternoon, the president said he has worked “long and hard” with Robert O’Brien who currently serves a Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the State Department.
He tweeted: “I am pleased to announce that I will name Robert C. O’Brien, currently serving as the very successful Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the State Department, as our new National Security Advisor. I have worked long & hard with Robert. He will do a great job!”
Recall that Trump sacked ex-NSA John Bolton last week.
Short profile of Robert O’Brien
Mr O’Brien’s role as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs entails working with families of US hostages and advising on related issues, including recovery policies. He was involved in the release of US rapper ASAP Rocky from Swedish detention last month.
A lawyer who has also served as a major in the US Army Reserve, O’Brien was appointed as a representative to the UN General Assembly by President George W Bush in 2005. He worked with Mr Bolton, who was then the ambassador. He has also worked with former secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton.
O’Brien is the founding partner with former federal Judge Stephen Larson of the Los Angeles boutique law firm Larson O’Brien LLP, which he established in January 2016.
The new NSA is the author of th book, While America Slept: Restoring American Leadership to a World in Crisis, published in 2016.
A retired career foreign service officer, Bart Marcois, once described O’Brien’s book as a peefect read for anyone interested in the trends and events that will drive Trump’s foreign policy.
“The entire book is a quick read, easy to understand, and leaves a reader well versed in the foreign affairs themes that will dominate the discussion for all of the Trump administration,” Marcois wrote in The Hill.