John Bolton
John Bolton is the former national security advisor. He was the 27th person to serve in the position. President Trump announced that Bolton would replace H.R. McMaster as national security advisor on March 22, 2018, and he succeeded McMaster on April 9 of the same year.[1]
Bolton resigned on September 10, 2019. President Trump said in a tweet: “I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning.”[2][3]
The assistant to the president for national security affairs (APNSA), commonly known as the national security advisor (NSA), is part of the National Security Council (NSC). The NSC "is the President's principal forum for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and cabinet officials. Since its inception under President Truman, the Council's function has been to advise and assist the President on national security and foreign policies. The Council also serves as the President's principal arm for coordinating these policies among various government agencies," according to the White House.[4]
Career
Early career
After graduating from law school at Yale University, Bolton began working in government with the United States Agency for International Development, where he was general counsel and then assistant administrator for program and policy coordination until 1983. He then moved to the private sector until 1985 before coming back to government work, this time as assistant attorney general under President Ronald Reagan (R). During the administration of George H.W. Bush, Bolton served as assistant secretary for international organization affairs in the U.S. Department of State.[5]
George W. Bush administration
In the administration of President George W. Bush (R), Bolton initially served as the under secretary of state for arms control and international security from 2001 until 2005.[6] In this position, he was responsible for crafting the Bush administration's policy on weapons of mass destruction. In a February 2002 interview with the Arms Control Association, Bolton listed the administration's priorities in terms of nuclear weapons, saying that the "first priority is missile defense ... the second priority is going to be the offensive [strategic] warheads ... [and] the next priority is Russian proliferation behavior."[7]
Bolton was also against the formation of the International Criminal Court, which he said was inconsistent with the freedoms guaranteed to U.S. citizens. He told PBS, "This court fundamentally embodied a potential for abuse of governmental power that I felt was inconsistent with being a free person — and [it was] inconsistent for a free country like the United States to subscribe to it. By creating a prosecutor who is overseen over by a court, they are melding executive and judicial power in a way that can lead to terrible abuses — as the founders of our country understood full well."[8] The U.S. pulled out of the ICC in May 2002.[9]
U.N. ambassador
Bolton was appointed to serve as ambassador to the United Nations in August 2005 when the U.S. Senate was in recess. After the Senate reconvened in January 2006, he was formally nominated for the position, but his confirmation was delayed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He resigned in December 2006 with a Senate confirmation unlikely. According to NBC News, the Senate was reluctant to confirm him because they "questioned Bolton’s brusque style and whether he could be an effective bureaucrat who could force reform at the U.N."[10]
Private sector
After leaving the U.N., Bolton began working in the private sector as an author and as a research fellow for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). In these roles, Bolton defended the decision to enter the war in Iraq and criticized President Barack Obama (D) for his foreign policy decisions. Bolton defended the war in a 2015 interview with the Washington Examiner. He said, "I still think the decision to overthrow Saddam was correct. I think decisions made after that decision were wrong, although I think the worst decision made after that was the 2011 decision to withdraw U.S. and coalition forces. The people who say, oh things would have been much better if you didn't overthrow Saddam miss the point that today's Middle East does not flow totally and unchangeably from the decision to overthrow Saddam alone."[11]
Writing for AEI, Bolton also critiqued the Iran nuclear agreement, calling the deal a diplomatic Waterloo. He said, "Mr. Obama has fundamentally weakened our position by scuttling international sanctions, unfreezing assets and tolerating belligerent Iranian behavior that shows its utter contempt for the deal itself."[12]
National security advisor
Bolton replaced H.R. McMaster as national security advisor on April 9, 2018.[1] He resigned on September 10, 2019.
Political activity
Bolton formed a PAC and super PAC in 2013 to back national security-focused candidates. The PACs endorsed 87 candidates in the 2014 midterms and 93 in 2016, spending more than $20 million across both cycles.[13][14][15]
Those were all general election candidates. In the 2018 election cycle, Bolton's PACs became involved in primaries. In January 2018, the John Bolton Super PAC announced a $1 million ad buy for Marine Corps veteran Kevin Nicholson (R) in Wisconsin's U.S. Senate Republican primary. Bolton’s PAC also endorsed and donated to Nicholson’s in 2017.[16]
According to Axios, this was the first time Bolton's groups engaged in a competitive Republican primary.[15]
See also
External links
- John Bolton on Twitter
- John Bolton at American Enterprise Institute
- Search Google News for this topic
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 CNN, "Trump replaces H.R. McMaster as national security adviser with John Bolton," March 22, 2018
- ↑ CNBC, "Trump says he fired national security advisor John Bolton — but Bolton says he ‘offered to resign’," September 10, 2019
- ↑ Twitter, "Donald Trump on Twitter," September 10, 2019
- ↑ WhiteHouse.gov, "National Security Council," accessed March 28, 2018
- ↑ American Enterprise Institute, "John R. Bolton," accessed November 23, 2016
- ↑ John Bolton PAC, "Meet John Bolton," accessed November 23, 2016
- ↑ Arms Control Association, "Bolton Questions Value of Past Negative Nuclear Security Pledges; Acknowledges U.S. Never Offered Specific Proposals to Amend the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty," February 20, 2002
- ↑ PBS, "Interview with John Bolton," July 19, 2009
- ↑ The Economist, "Let the child live," January 25, 2007
- ↑ NBC News, "John Bolton Resigns as Ambassador to U.N.," December 4, 2006
- ↑ Washington Examiner, "John Bolton: No regrets about toppling Saddam," May 14, 2015
- ↑ American Enterprise Institute, "The Iran deal: A year in review," July 13, 2016
- ↑ FEC, "Query: Committees John Bolton Formed," accessed February 2, 2018
- ↑ endorsed Bolton PAC, "2018 Candidates," accessed February 2, 2018
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Axios, "Keep your eye on John Bolton in 2018," January 3, 2018
- ↑ Global News Wire, Ambassador John Bolton to Run a $1,000,000 Ad Campaign in Support of Kevin Nicholson," January 4, 2018
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by H.R. McMaster |
National Security Advisor April 9, 2018 - September 10, 2019 |
Succeeded by - |
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