Top Trump national security official to leave White House
WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump has signed off on the departure of a top White House national security official, part of a slow-rolling shakeup that consolidates the influence of Trump's new national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss her departure.
K.T. McFarland, the principal deputy national security adviser, is expected to leave the White House in the next few weeks once Trump formally nominates her to be U.S. ambassador to Singapore.
McFarland was an early supporter of Trump during the campaign and advocated inside the White House for a military buildup and a muscular U.S. presence overseas. She had previously served in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations and was a Fox News contributor.
McFarland had worked closely with Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, to who was forced out in February after misleading Vice President Mike Pence about his phone calls with the Russian ambassador.
Since Trump brought in McMaster, an Army lieutenant general, to run the National Security Council, Trump has allowed McMaster to pick his team. McMaster bristled at McFarland's brash, shoot-from-the-hip style, and contempt for working through the long-standing, deliberative communications channels with agencies, a U.S. official who has attended meetings with McMaster and McFarland said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal meetings.
_Tribune Washington Bureau
