H.R. McMaster and things that make you go hmmmmm.....

Something about Mr. McMaster just doesn't sit right with me -- and it didn't even before the missile strike in Syria. But since the missile strike, my concerns have only been intensified. So I thought I'd throw a few things out for discussion and let others expand my perspective with their own.

Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster is the new National Security Adviser for Trump, replacing Michael Flynn who was pushed out after his unmasking and the allegation that he had not properly disclosed associations with Russia/Russian entities. And, of course, Michael Flynn was the replacement for Susan Rice, the National Security Adviser for Obama, who is also allegedly the un-masker of Flynn.

Mr. McMaster is currently getting much credit and many kudos for his role in the decision-making process and execution of the Syrian missile strike -- and Trump's sudden 180-degree turnaround. For example: McMaster's Influence on Trump Security Policy Seen in Syria Airstrikes

Eleven weeks into his presidency, President Donald Trump's response to the chemical weapons attack in Syria is being seen as evidence that mature voices have taken the helm of the administration's security decision-making.

Veteran observers who spoke to VOA said the apparently successful missile strike on the Syrian air base from which the attack was thought to have originated bore the fingerprints of Trump's national security adviser, General H.R. McMaster.

He first came to my attention with Devin Nunes and the Russiagate/Spygate brouhaha:

The story begins with a group within the National Security Council, headed by the senior director of intelligence, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, undertaking a review of the government’s policy on “unmasking.” Presumably they were intent on finding out who discovered, and then illegally leaked, the contents of phone calls between former Security Council chief Mike Flynn and the Russian ambassador, which ultimately led to Flynn’s ouster.

According to journalist Mike Cernovich, who broke the story, “The White House Counsel’s office identified Rice as the person responsible for the unmasking after examining Rice’s document log requests. The reports Rice requested to see are kept under tightly-controlled conditions. Each person must log her name before being granted access to them.”

The logs led National Security Adviser General H.R. McMaster to conclude that Rice had been responsible for uncovering the identities of individuals who were picked up in “incidental” surveillance of foreign nationals. Usually, such persons are reported anonymously to protect their privacy. No one has yet accused Rice of leaking the information that she collected. McMaster sent an aide, Derek Harvey, to convey that information to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes.

Source: Fox News, April 4, 2017

Note that no date is given for when this information was relayed to McMaster, and no date was given for when he sent his aide to tell Nunes... and then note that just a few days earlier, on March 30, the New York Times had published accounts from "four American officials" who accused Ezra Cohen-Watnik and Michael Ellis of being the ones to inform Nunes:

Several current American officials identified the White House officials as Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence at the National Security Council, and Michael Ellis, a lawyer who works on national security issues at the White House Counsel’s Office and was previously counsel to Mr. Nunes’s committee.

This narrative was repeated across the media -- mainstream and otherwise -- ad nauseum, in a way that suggested Cohen-Watnik had gone rogue, acted independently and outside the bounds of protocol (if not the law), and went straight to Nunes with the classified intelligence. But that's not what happened. At all. Cohen-Watnik and Ellis did go through the appropriate chain of command, right to the new National Security Adviser -- McMaster -- and it was McMaster who sent his own aide to inform Devin Nunes, the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. So somehow these four American officials knew that it was Cohen-Watnik and Ellis who uncovered the unmasking, but they didn't know it was McMaster who informed Nunes??? Yeah, right. But it got even more bizarre:

[Ezra Cohen-Watnik] was nearly pushed out of his job this month by Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who replaced Mr. Flynn as national security adviser, but survived after the intervention of Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist.

Huh??? No explanation of why or how or when... Had Cohen-Watnik already found examined the logs revealing Susan Rice requested the unmasking? Did H.R. McMaster know that when he tried to remove Cohen-Watnik? Doesn't say. Just that little tidbit thrown in there before getting back to the intelligence reports viewed by Nunes. So I did more checking. From Politico:

President Donald Trump has overruled a decision by his national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, to sideline a key intelligence operative who fell out of favor with some at the Central Intelligence Agency, two sources told POLITICO.

On Friday [March 10], McMaster told the National Security Council’s senior director for intelligence programs, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, that he would be moved to another position in the organization.

The conversation followed weeks of pressure from career officials at the CIA who had expressed reservations about the 30-year-old intelligence operative and pushed for his ouster.

But Cohen-Watnick appealed McMaster’s decision to two influential allies with whom he had forged a relationship while working on Trump’s transition team — White House advisers Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner. They brought the matter to Trump on Sunday, and the president agreed that Cohen-Watnick should remain as the NSC’s intelligence director, according to two people with knowledge of the episode.

Source: Politico

"Weeks of pressure"??? McMaster was named National Security Adviser on February 20... and this occurred March 10. So yeah, almost three weeks, but seriously? Maybe it's just me, but that seemed more than a little misleading. And I sure didn't like the reason given: "pressure from career officials at the CIA who had expressed reservations about the 30-year-old intelligence operative and pushed for his ouster."

(continued in next post)

(continuing)

I tried to find more information about this, and I did find a little more at Investors.com, which quoted the same Politico article I quoted/linked above as saying:

The piece then cuts to the chase when it quotes another intelligence operative as to why certain individuals at the CIA wanted Cohen-Watnick removed. It reports that Cohen-Watnick and his previous boss, Michael Flynn, saw "eye-to-eye about the failings of the CIA human intelligence operations. … The CIA saw (Cohen-Watnick) as a threat, so they tried to unseat him and replace him with an agency loyalist."

But that sure isn't in the Politico article now!!! I not only re-read the Politico article trying to find it, I did a search of the page with the exact words, and they just weren't in there. Perhaps they were edited out because folks like me and the Investors.com author didn't like the inference of "career officials at the CIA:

If true, those would be the actions of a police state and should send chills down the spines of anyone in or out of government who still cares about ethics and our Constitution.

Source: Investor's Business Daily

So Trump steps into the fray and by Monday morning (March 13) Ezra Cohen-Watnik is reinstated to his position. A week later, the night of March 21, Nunes goes to the White House grounds to view the intelligence Cohen-Watnik and Ellis found regarding spying on Trump and unmasking his associates, reportedly with Michael Ellis subsequently assisting Nunes in viewing the records. Nunes gives an impromptu press conference the next morning, and then goes to the White House to (presumably) inform Trump.... and all hell breaks loose!!!

What I cannot find -- and therefore do not know -- is exactly when Ezra Cohen-Watnik began examining the records/log books, or when he went to McMaster with his findings. Which, of course, makes me wonder if the efforts to remove Ezra Cohen-Watnik had to do with his knowledge of -- or at least his efforts to find information about -- the intelligence agencies spying and unmasking Trump et al. Nor can I find any further information on why McMaster wanted to remove Cohen-Watnik -- beyond a desire to do the bidding of "career officials at the CIA." No one's talking about that.

Because Cohen-Watnik had been described as a Michael Flynn "protege," I decided to revisit the unmasking and leaking about Flynn, thinking it might have been that very recent situation that prompted Cohen-Watnik to search the intelligence logs for who had requested the unmasking of Flynn, leading to the widespread dissemination of that information among intelligence officials, and ultimately leaked to the media -- the New York Times and the Washington Post in particular, who reported the leaked information on February 9, with Flynn resigning four days later on the 13th. Because the leaked information included specific dates and conversations, it seems reasonable and simple enough for Cohen-Watnik to have used those specifics to find the corresponding entries in the logbooks, but I have no confirmation of that. What I did find, however, was even more surprising: a tweet from Susan Rice to H.R. McMaster upon his appointment to her former position under Obama:

Hope you will be able to choose your team, have direct reporting and daily access to POTUS, and can eliminate Strategic Initiatives Group.

She hopes he "can eliminate" the Strategic Initiatives Group. Maybe I'm reading too much into this... maybe it was a poor choice of words... but that indicates to me that she somehow knew he wanted to do so already.... and perhaps more than that:

Many eyebrows are being raised now as Nationalist advisors are being pushed out or put on the back burner while globalists trickle in. Was the ousting of General Flynn planned all along in order to stop Trump’s ‘America first’ agenda? Seems likely.

Source: Gateway Pundit

So who and what is the Strategic Initiatives Group? From February 1, just about halfway between the inauguration and the ousting of Flynn:

Steve Bannon Builds a New Node of Power in the White House

The former Breitbart chief has teamed up with Jared Kushner to set up a White House ‘Strategic Initiatives Group.’ Will it challenge the National Security Council for influence?

Apparently, that's a resounding YES!!!

The idea is not to make but to inform policy, helping guide a new president unfamiliar with the levers of power in Washington, D.C., and bridge the gap between the White House and industry, said the official, who spoke anonymously as a condition of describing White House deliberations.

Less-charitable observers say the SIG is intended to be an alternative lodestar of power and influence to just possibly supersede the advice coming out of the traditional centers of influence like the National Security Council and the wider agencies of government.

And we all know what happened to Bannon just a few days ago (April 5):

Bannon removed from security council as McMaster asserts control

President Trump on Wednesday removed controversial White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon from the National Security Council, part of a sweeping staff reshuffling that elevated military, intelligence and Cabinet officials to greater roles on the council and left Bannon less directly involved in shaping the administration’s day-to-day national security policy.

The restructuring reflects the growing influence of national security adviser H.R. McMaster, an Army three-star general who took over the post after retired general Michael Flynn was ousted in February and who is increasingly asserting himself over the flow of national security information in the White House.

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Despite the optics (at least to me), Bannon seemed rather positive about it all:

In a statement, Bannon framed his removal as the culmination of an effort to change the makeup of the NSC as it operated under President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Susan E. Rice, whose tenure was heavily criticized by Republicans.

“Susan E. Rice operationalized the NSC during the last administration,” Bannon said. “I was put on to ensure that it was de-operationalized. General McMaster has returned the NSC to its proper function.”

Along with Bannon’s removal, other changes outlined Wednesday in a memorandum further strengthen McMaster’s position. He is now in charge of the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council headed by Tom Bossert — a reversal from earlier in the year, when the NSC and HSC were put on equal footing.

And the very next day, April 6, Trump did a complete 180 regarding Syria:

Trump used to think Assad could keep power. A brutal sarin attack has changed his mind.

It’s taken less than two days for President Trump’s Syria policy to go from Bashar al-Assad can stay to Assad must go. The question now is whether Trump is willing to do something President Obama wouldn’t: use US military force to punish the Syrian dictator for using chemical weapons against his own people.

As we all know now -- and the author would soon learn -- the answer is (again) a resounding yes.

Trump launches military strike against Syria

Trump's decision marked a dramatic shift in his position on whether the US should take military action against the Syrian President's regime -- which Trump opposed during his campaign for president -- and came after the President was visibly and publicly moved by the images of this week's chemical weapons attack.

This despite the claims of many MANY in a position to know who say that Assad was NOT responsible for a chemical attack (for various reasons)... And, of course, Assad's denial of responsibility and intention. There is room for doubt -- reasonable doubt -- that Assad knowingly and deliberately waged a chemical attack on these people. So why? Who thought this was a good idea and advised the President to do so??? That brings us back to H.R. McMaster -- McMaster's Influence on Trump Security Policy Seen in Syria Airstrikes. Not just McMaster of course; but his influence was (and is) quite strong. Perhaps too strong... and perhaps just plain wrong:

H. R. McMaster Manipulating Intelligence Reports to Trump, Wants 150,000 Ground Soldiers in Syria

Current National Security Adviser Herbert Raymond “H. R.” McMaster is manipulating intelligence reports given to President Donald Trump, Cernovich Media can now report. McMaster is plotting how to sell a massive ground war in Syria to President Trump with the help of disgraced former CIA director and convicted criminal David Petraeus, who mishandled classified information by sharing documents with his mistress.

As NSA, McMaster’s job is to synthesize intellience reports from all other agencies. President Trump is being given an inaccurate picture of the situation in Syria, as McMaster is seeking to involve the U.S. in a full scale war in Syria.

Cernovich, you might recall, also broke the news of Susan Rice being the one who requested the unmasking of Michael Flynn and others. Information he said was known but sat on:

This reporter has been informed that Maggie Haberman has had this story about Susan Rice for at least 48 hours, and has chosen to sit on it in an effort to protect the reputation of former President Barack Obama.

Susan Rice Requested Unmasking of Incoming Trump Administration Officials

Indeed, it was from media sources ratting out other reporters that Cernovich claims he learned of it:

But, as it turns out, Cernovich didn't need a 'deep throat' within the NSA or CIA for his blockbuster scoop, all he needed was some well-placed sources inside of a couple of America's corrupt mainstream media outlets. As Cernovich explains below, his sources for the Susan Rice story were actually folks working at Bloomberg and the New York Times who revealed that both Eli Lake (Bloomberg) and Maggie Haberman (NYT) were sitting on the Susan Rice story in order to protect the Obama administration.

Source: Zero Hedge

I can't help but notice that the New York Times has gone far beyond impartially reporting the news to being part of the news. The New York Times published the leaks about Michael Flynn (and other leaks); then sat on the story of who unmasked Flynn and leaked the story to them. And now this clearly pro-Team McMaster editorial from the New York Times:

...in mid-March, General McMaster tried to fire Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence programs at the National Security Council. Mr. Cohen-Watnick, a holdover from Michael Flynn’s aborted stint as national security adviser, complained to Mr. Bannon and Jared Kushner, who prevailed on Mr. Trump to have him reinstated.

The idea that the 30-year-old Mr. Cohen-Watnick should be senior director for intelligence programs — a position held by senior career C.I.A. officers in the Obama administration and others — is dubious. Furthermore, General McMaster’s decision to get rid of Mr. Cohen-Watnick was well within his pay grade. And Mr. Trump’s countermanding an understandable and routine staffing decision not only reneged on his deal with General McMaster, it also segued to an episode of clear White House obstructionism.

A few days after his reinstatement, Mr. Cohen-Watnick was one of three White House staffers who facilitated a briefing to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes on the “incidental surveillance” of Trump campaign staff members, which Mr. Nunes used to distract news media and public attention from the committee’s investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to influence the outcome of the presidential election.

No one knows better than the folks at the NYT that Trump and Flynn and others were in fact spied upon, unmasked, and leaked to the media... because they were the media! That's not a distraction from the investigation -- it's part and parcel of the investigation!!!
-------------------------------------

My mind is spinning with questions and possibilities and concerns. I don't like the incestuous nature of it all... much less the power struggles taking place.

If you've read this far -- -- and thank you. I hope you'll share your thoughts about any/all of it.

It is like a TV series that I don't want to watch.

But it is real.

originally posted by: butcherguy
It is like a TV series that I don't want to watch.

But it is real.

That's an excellent way to put it. Like a nightmare soap opera with no end in sight...

Sources Used:

A Deep-State Coup in the White House?

McMaster's Influence on Trump Security Policy Seen in Syria Airstrikes

Susan Rice caught 'unmasking' Trump aides

2 White House Officials Helped Give Nunes Intelligence Reports

Susan Rice Requested Unmasking of Incoming Trump Administration Officials

A Deep-State Coup in the White House?

Trump steps in to keep 30-year-old NSC aide

Flynn Is Said to Have Talked to Russians About Sanctions Before Trump Took Office

National security adviser Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador, despite denials, officials say

Steve Bannon Builds a New Node of Power in the White House

Bannon removed from security council as McMaster asserts control

Trump used to think Assad could keep power. A brutal sarin attack has changed his mind.

Trump launches military strike against Syria

Inside Trump's cruise missile strike on Syria

Susan Rice Requested Unmasking of Incoming Trump Administration Officials

Cernovich Explains How He Learned About Susan Rice

H. R. McMaster Manipulating Intelligence Reports to Trump, Wants 150,000 Ground Soldiers in Syria

President Trump Being Fed Tainted Intelligence By Those Advising Him.

New Theory On Syrian Chemical Attack – Trying To Find The Truth.

Bannon’s Out. But Did H.R. McMaster Win?

a reply to: Boadicea

You are aware that K.T. has been removed and is being posted as the U.S. Ambassador to Singapore.

For the life of me, I still can't figure out who is teaching Mogul this type of tradecraft.
You don't reckon he's holding seances with Rawhide do ya ?

Buck

originally posted by: flatbush71
a reply to: Boadicea

You are aware that K.T. has been removed and is being posted as the U.S. Ambassador to Singapore.

Gosh darn it! Yes, I did know that and then forgot to mention it and post a link... Thank you for the reminder!!!

McFarland to Exit White House as McMaster Consolidates Power

McFarland proved not to be a good fit at the NSC, the person said, adding that Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly was involved in the decision as well. Her removal follows a reorganization of the NSC in the past week that removed Stephen Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist and senior counselor, from the principals committee, the Cabinet-level interagency forum that advises the president on pressing security matters.

For the life of me, I still can't figure out who is teaching Mogul this type of tradecraft.
You don't reckon he's holding seances with Rawhide do ya ?

I can't figure it out either... at this point I'd believe almost anything -- even a seance with Rawhide!

Good read, thnx for posting.

Oh ya, gotta have this..



Or maybe this...



Maybe threads need intro music, it's a thought that made me hmmmmmm

a reply to: Boadicea

--The CIA saw (Cohen-Watnick) as a threat, so they tried to unseat him and replace him with an agency loyalist."

But that sure isn't in the Politico article now!!! I not only re-read the Politico article trying to find it, I did a search of the page with the exact words, and they just weren't in there. Perhaps they were edited out because folks like me and the Investors.com author didn't like the inference of "career officials at the CIA:

If true, those would be the actions of a police state and should send chills down the spines of anyone in or out of government who still cares about ethics and our Constitution

Unelected career officials in the highest agencies , pressuring for more loyalists... of course they changed it, sounds like we have Kings, not Representatives.

a reply to: Boadicea

Most excellent post. So glad you brought this. I tried to report on the Cernovich article yesterday re: McMaster it got so thoroughly trashed I walked away. Some of the usual suspects. Course, I didn't the research as you have done.

This is all very disturbing for me and really hoping the WH gets wind of it. Hoping they are reading this.

a reply to: Black_Fox

Oh ya, gotta have this..

Perfect -- thank you!

a reply to: intrptr

Unelected career officials in the highest agencies , pressuring for more loyalists... of course they changed it, sounds like we have Kings, not Representatives.

So it's not just me -- whew!

Doesn't look like we have much of a free press left either.

originally posted by: liveandlearn
a reply to: Boadicea

Most excellent post. So glad you brought this.

Thank you -- I'm glad it's appreciated.

I tried to report on the Cernovich article yesterday re: McMaster it got so thoroughly trashed I walked away.

I'm sorry to hear that... but not surprised. We just have to remind ourselves that there's lots of people out there who like it that way, and just love to give out disinformation and misinformation and otherwise stir the pot. And we gotta keep doing what we're doing. It sure ain't fun and it sure ain't pretty, eh?

This is all very disturbing for me and really hoping the WH gets wind of it. Hoping they are reading this.

I'm pretty sure Trump et al know even better than we do what's going on! I just don't know if he's up to the challenge. At this point, I'm not even sure he wants to challenge the status quo. And I take absolutely no pleasure or satisfaction in that.

originally posted by: Boadicea
a reply to: intrptr

Unelected career officials in the highest agencies , pressuring for more loyalists... of course they changed it, sounds like we have Kings, not Representatives.

So it's not just me -- whew!

Doesn't look like we have much of a free press left either.

Propagandists,

Incredible attention to detail, nice presentation. Thanks for putting in the work. This should go good with your searching, Goebbels understood indoctrinating the masses at large, he did it with radio in the NAZI era.

Joseph Goebbels speech to radio convention, 1933

Veteran observers who spoke to VOA said the apparently successful missile strike on the Syrian air base from which the attack was thought to have originated bore the fingerprints of Trump's national security adviser, General H.R. McMaster.

And there ya go
What the HELL is a veteran observer ?
Oh , wait , every member here is a veteran observer in their own right
Goth puts down another thread with a single stroke of the bold use.

a reply to: Boadicea

Awesome research....This is what ATS is all about: wheels within wheels and unpeeling the layers of the onion.

originally posted by: pavil
a reply to: Boadicea

Awesome research....This is what ATS is all about: wheels within wheels and unpeeling the layers of the onion.

Thank you! It's still not enough to come to any conclusions about anything, it all just strikes me as so... I don't know... I guess that's my problem. It's all so disturbing how things are playing out.

a reply to: Boadicea

Smith-Mundt

If we aren't disbanding the CIA, then it needs to be chained and muzzled.

Nothing makes sense because its all a psyop.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: Boadicea

Smith-Mundt

Yes. Of course you're right. And for those unawares, Smith-Mundt -- specifically, the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, as contained in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 -- pretty much legalizes government propaganda within the U.S.A. In other words, under color of law, government officials can lie their pants off to we the people about anything and everything.

If we aren't disbanding the CIA, then it needs to be chained and muzzled.

At the very least!!!

Nothing makes sense because its all a psyop.

Just wanted that repeated!

ETA: P.S. Thanks for adding that -- much appreciated