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Significance
O’Brien succeeds John Bolton, who left the post on September 10. His candidacy was supported by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior presidential advisor Jared Kushner. O’Brien’s selection is a win for Pompeo and elevates Pompeo’s influence over national security policy, especially as a new permanent Director of National Intelligence (DNI) has not yet been confirmed.
Impacts
North Korea will welcome Bolton’s departure but still be concerned since Pompeo remains; this may slow US-North Korea rapprochement.
O’Brien is likely to be a more low-key NSA than Bolton, reserving any policy disagreements for private meetings.
Trump will still be the primary foreign policy decisionmaker.
Keywords:
United States,
NA,
China,
Iran,
North Korea,
Pacific,
Russia,
Saudi Arabia,
politics,
defence,
foreign policy,
policy,
security,
international relations,
election,
party
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2019
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