McFarland Waiting Out Her Replacement at National Security Council

What's the holdup? Deputy national security advisor K.T. McFarland is waiting to leave the White House to prepare for her new assignment as the U.S. ambassador to Singapore. An administration official confirmed back on April 9 that McFarland, a veteran of the Reagan administration who was a Fox News contributor when she was brought into the National Security Council with former national security advisor Mike Flynn, would be leaving the NSC.

But Flynn's successor, H.R. McMaster, has yet to name a replacement for McFarland. That, I'm told, is holding up the transition process. McFarland has continued to report to her job at the NSC and can't begin the State Department's procedure for becoming an ambassador.

'Adapting' the NSC

McFarland's exit, whenever it happens, will continue McMaster's task of reforming the NSC. Since taking over on February 20—in a few days, McMaster will have been in the job for three times as long as Flynn was—McMaster has added Dina Powell, a traditional Republican hawk, as deputy national security advisor for strategy. And the removal last month of Steve Bannon, President Trump's chief strategist, from the NSC's principals committee also had McMaster's approval.

In an interview last week, McMaster characterized the tumult within the NSC over the first 100 days of the administration as a natural part of bringing together a national security team.

"There's been a lot of attention, I think, on changes and changes in the way of doing things," McMaster said. "Just from a historical perspective, every White House staff, every National Security Council has to make changes and modify how it does things based on the preferences and the personality of the president and those he brings in to assist him with implementing his agenda."