Top Trump Middle East adviser ousted from National Security Council
Source: The Hill
BY JORDAN FABIAN - 07/27/17 12:54 PM EDT
The White House said Friday that Derek Harvey, a senior Middle East adviser to President Trump, is no longer with the National Security Council (NSC). An NSC spokesperson said the retired Army intelligence officer may take a new job elsewhere in the administration.
(National security adviser) General (H.R.) McMaster greatly appreciates Derek Harveys service to his country as a career Army officer, where he served his country bravely in the field and played a crucial role in the successful surge in Iraq, and also for his service on Capitol Hill and in the Trump administration, spokesman Michael Anton said. The administration is working with Colonel Harvey to identify positions in which his background and expertise can be best utilized.
The Weekly Standard first reported Harveys departure, saying he was fired effective immediately. He served as senior director for Middle East policy on the NSC. The move comes amid fierce disagreements within the administration over its approach to Iran.
Harvey was known as a hawk on the matter, among a contingent of Trump advisers who are pushing for a more aggressive tack toward Iran by urging Trump to scrap the nuclear deal struck by former President Obama. But others, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, want a more measured approach and reportedly convinced the president to stop short of doing so.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/344140-top-trump-middle-east-adviser-ousted-from-national-security-council
Harvey was hired by McMasters predecessor, retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. The Weekly Standard reported that Harveys dismissal was not a result of the tussling over Iran but came because he was viewed as too close to senior Trump adviser Stephen Bannon.
riversedge
(70,191 posts)been very involved in foreign policy matters. Made me scared.
Grins
(7,212 posts)Harvey sounds like another Reich-wing nutbag who listens too often to the likes of John Bolton. Good riddance.
Meanwhile, Ezra Cohen-Watnick and Michael Ellis, both involved in feeding classified intel about the Trump-Russia investigation to Devin Nunes in a nighttime meeting on White House grounds, who then went running to the media with the intel the next day, and also inexplicably - NOT! - brought the information back to Trump, remain in their jobs at the White House.