Harward rejects National Security Adviser offer
According to Fox News, retired Navy Vice Admiral Robert Harward turned down the Trump Administration’s offer of the recently vacated national security adviser position;
One source told Fox that retired Navy Vice Admiral Robert Harward “really wanted” to do the job, but ultimately decided that he could not.
A senior administration official said that Harward’s acceptance of the national security adviser post was contingent on the agreement of his family. The official said Harward’s wife and other family members wanted him to remain in the private sector.
[…]
“It’s purely a personal issue,” Harward said Thursday evening. “I’m in a unique position finally after being the in military for 40 years to enjoy some personal time.”
Who can blame him in this toxic environment? The media has insured that the best people for jobs will shy away from those jobs just to avoid being the subject of false news.
Category: Politics
First!! again.
Wooooo F5 F5 F5 F5
Catstomper!!!
Considering that The Howling has not yet died away, I can’t say that I blame Mr. Harward (hubba hubba!) for saying ‘No’.
Should I stick my oar into that cesspool?
You just went WOOO WOOO WOOO!!!! in an Ex-PH2 kind of way, didn’t you???
I’m thinkin it was more of an ID Sarc kind of way…
DEFINITELY NSFW:
Ex-PH2 – I second that emotion.
F5 bitches, F5….
Waiting for EX_PH2 to swoon at the photo of the Admiral running.
See my response posted simultaneously with yours. This is the problem with living in a multi-Universe system. Some paths open at precisely the same nano-microsecond. Atoms are split, molecule dissipated, electrons sent whirling. We’re doomed. Doomed, I tell you!
Can’t blame VADM Harward for turning down the NSA job – sounds like he put family first with this (and probably saw that the job would be a thankless one).
I think he should nominate Chuck Norris just to fuck with the rest of the world.
Seriously.
Nah. Chuck Norris was recently photographed visiting Israel. That would just promote the Zionist Conspiracy ™ claims.
Good. We don’t need any admiral advising President Trump on nat’l security.
Okay, I’ll put my application in for the job.
You’re right… he needs a SELECTED AND INITIATED CPO to do it… and I just volunteered!
First statement to the NSA staff – “I’LL MAKE EVERY ONE OF YOU BARK LIKE A FOX IF YOU DON’T KNOCK THIS LEAK SHIT OFF!!!
GODDAMNIT, WHERE’S THE COFFEE IN THIS DAMN PLACE!”
All I know is, that photo up top almost makes me feel guilty enough to get up off my fat ass and hit the gym.
Almost.
I had the same thought, for about 2 seconds and then decided against it.
I get out and take a walk over to the bank, about 1.25 mile each way, a couple of times a week. Sometimes, I go to Walmart, too, and bring home stuff like popcorn.
You telling me you can’t do that, too? Do you want ME to come over to YOUR hootch and encourage you somewhat?
Popcorn? Where at?
Snacks aisle at Walmart.
I had an email this morning from Special Operations Speaks containing an article from Daily Caller that quoted retired SOC vets as saying that former Clinton Administration officials are behind the Flynn treachery and that it’s just the beginning of their effort to unseat Trump.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/15/exclusive-how-the-nations-spooks-played-the-game-kill-mike-flynn/
I expect the Admiral’s sources are telling him the same thing and he doesn’t want to see his lifetime of honorable service besmirched by a bunch of dirty fucking Democrats playing their favorite kind of politics.
Well, what did you expect, Poetrooper? Did you think the incoming people would not have to fill the trashbins and toss out the garbage? How many of those scumbags were/are responsible for undermining the security of this country? I’m sure there’s a list of scum longer than my two arms put end-to-end.
OK, I’ll keep an open mind about this… but since the primary issue for President Trump is apparently that Flynn made false statements, how is that the Clinton administration’s fault? (And, for the record, the article says the Obama administration.)
And how is this not similar to when the Left ‘blames Bush for everything’? It seems it was Flynn’s own actions -and his own naivete!- that got him in trouble. And this is also all predicated on the idea that the Dems want to unseat President Trump, which if I were a democrat is the last thing I’d want to do – President Pence would be far more poised and capable. The Dems want four years of mayhem going into the 2020 elections so they can bring out their base against a ‘crazy’ President Trump, not a presidential incumbent Pence.
It’ll be interesting to see if the transcripts of Flynn’s calls get leaked and what’s in them. But an incoming NSA who isn’t aware that we’re tapping the calls of key Russians is, as I said above, incredibly naive.
Leaking the take from an intel source is decidedly not cool, and is severaal flavors of illegal.
Eavesdropping on foreign diplomats generates such protected information. Un-protecting it without proper declassification is federal felony level not cool.
The Pretorian Guard intrigued and throne-management, to the great detriment of Rome. We really need to crack down on this sort of thing, before it gets much further out of hand.
Don’t like the current administration? Resign! But until you do resign, server it loyally and well, as you are serving the US Government, thus our Constitution and Nation, -not- just serving the current ringmaster of the three-ring circus in DC.
Resign! Or, serve the USA faithfully, and leak free.
For those leaks are properly known by another name – espionage.
sigh… I can proofread a post, check it backwards and forwards, and still miss a bunch of goofy typos….
Just … wow….
Attended the same school in Tehran as VADM Harward. He graduated in 1974 & learned to speak Farsi as well.
This guy had a terrific career. Honor Man at BUD/S, commanded SEAL TEAM 3, skipped his 2nd star on his way to retiring w/ 3, deputy to Gen Mattis at CENTCOM, and did a parachute jump on his retirement day. Made the right choice to stay out of the political meat grinder in Washington, and enjoy a more leisurely pace of life.
Jake Tapper tweeted this yesterday: “A friend of Harward’s says he was reluctant to take NSA job bc the WH seems so chaotic; says Harward called the offer a “shit sandwich.”
I do not know his “friends”. I can assert that none of -mine- would say such an incredibly shitbag thing in such a shitbag way.
That use of “friend” was in the self-declared version, in place of the usual weasel-words “a source familiar with this says”. Either version is used as substitute for “I made this shit up from my own inner spite.”
Now, if the Admiral did actually say those words, strung together that way, then the “friend” probably was more like a “back-stabbing subordinate denied the walk-on-water OER it imagined it deserved for keeping the back-biting to a discrete minimum”.
Ret. GEN Keith Alexander, LTG H.R. McMaster, and former NSA for pres Bush, Stephen Hadley, are other names being floated…joining GEN Petraeus & acting NSA LTG Keith Kellogg.
I vote for McMaster. He has actually killed some ‘slamos at 73 Easting.
K. T. McFarland.
I am not surprised he took the job.
However, Trump has not generally been picking the best people. Some are very good, but most are terrible. A few are a disaster.
And dismissing everything you do not agree with as “fake news” is bizarre. It is also duplicitous for the Trump administration to be calling stories “fake news” and simultaneously angry at the leaks that provided the information for the story. If it is fake news there would be no need for leaks. And if the leaks are happening then it is not fake news.
I meant “I am not surprised the turned down the job”.
You need to go back to DU where you belong. No one here cares what you think about anything, irrespective of whether it really happened or was an occurrence in your progtard parallel universe.
WTF does DU mean?
And I do not care if anyone cares. I usually don’t even come back anymore to see if anyone responded.
“I usually don’t even come back anymore to see if anyone responded.” He wrote that in reply to a response to his comment. To him, “usually don’t” means “I almost always do but I won’t admit it.”
“However, Trump has not generally been picking the best people.” That from a guy who worked to nominate the Old Commie and, then, when Bernie lost that bid, tossed his vote to that wacky dame who handcuffed refresher to a pipeline or something. Thus, I conclude that President Trump is doing an outstanding job selecting folks to get his agenda accomplished.
“handcuffed refresher” Where in God’s creation did refresher come from? That was supposed to be “handcuffed herself.”
HAHA 2/17, spell checker got you!
Spellcheck substituted refresher for herself?
Turn off the damned spellchecker!!!!
Refresher – is that the green stuff in a bottle with a thick wick?
Spellcheck can sometimes be a real Mother Forklift. I heard that its inventor passed away and his headstone reads “Restaurant In Peace”.
If I ever need to be replaced at the Comedy Club on Thursdays, you’re my guy. I’d bet dollars to donuts you have a very high IQ.
Or dollars to donuts that he’s very high…
I guess you never noticed the “Tuesdays with Claymore” posts, and the great big “DU” logon for them?
Epic fail.
You know what I think is funny Lars? It’s funny that people who spent eight years saying some pretty awful things about President Obama have their panties in a twist over people taking President Trump to task. The people attacking President Trump are the same ones who attacked President Bush. The people who attacked President Clinton (W2 spits on ground at mention of his name) are the same ones who attacked President Obama. See a pattern here? President Carter was arguably the worst president in modern history, and people moaned about him, but I don’t remember the vitriol. President Reagan (greatest president EVER) pissed off some on the left, but the day he was shot by crackpot Hinkley, I seem to remember the ENTIRE country coming together. What’s the point of this rambling? There are “sides” now and each side, when out of power, acts like a bunch of babies. The “side” in power can’t understand why everybody isn’t onboard with their guy. It’s all hypocrisy in the worst possible way. It’s amazing to me that any person would actually want the job of president, with what them and their family are put through. People talking smack about your wife and children because they are on the other “side”. The Bush twins (Laura was far too classy for anyone to put down), Michelle Obama and daughters and now Baron Trump and the first lady being talked about like they are less than the rest of us. At the end of the day, President Trump is my president. I don’t have to like him, and I don’t have to like his politics, but he is my president. His family is off limits. And if you’re on a “side” and your panties are in a twist about leaks or “fake news” then get over it. There are “sides” now and that’s the system we have developed. It’s totally fucking sad our political system has degenerated into this bullcrap, but that’s the fact as I see it, at least from my foxhole.
“The “side” in power can’t understand why everybody isn’t onboard with their guy.” You were doing fine until that line. I don’t know one person who supports President Trump and claims not to understand why others do not.
I thought your guy was named Shinzo.
That’s Prime Minister Shinzo to you (even though it’s Prime Minister Abe). He ain’t my guy. He’s one of the “WWII wasn’t as bad as people make it, and Asia would have been better off if we’d won” guys. There happens to be a number of those guys in Japan. They usually ride around in black vans, blaring “patriotic” music, and obstructing traffic. President Trump rightly won the presidency based on the system we have in the US. His supporters argue, rightly, that he is the president, based on the system, so get over it. What I am saying is we have created “sides” where people feel its OK to do or say whatever they want to de-legitimize the president because he isn’t on their “side”. It’s happened in the past, but became ratcheted up during the Bush / Obama presidencies. Nobody should be surprised that the opposite “side” is doing the same thing, dragging President Trump through the mud every chance they get. It’s sickening to me, but that’s what we, as an electorate, have devolved into. It makes me want to barf.
And you don’t think Laura Bush was a classy First Lady? Possibly the most classy, after Barbara Bush. Come on. man.
I could have sworn you were the guy who declared his joy with being in Japan and not at all entangled or involved with US presidential politics. I know damn well a comment or two going to that. Do I have you confused with another TAH visitor who resides under the Rising Sun. As for Abe/Abs Ginsu/Shitzo/Whatever, no, he’s not Prime Minister anything to me.
True dat, however since I am still under orders I gots to pay a little attention at least. President Trump called him Prime Minister Shinzo, proving Trump’s close staff is a bunch of rookies. As far as living in Japan, there is little crime, no opioid epidemic and I don’t have to worry about my kids getting molested by some perv or shot by some gang banger on their way to school, so, yeah, I am pretty glad where I am. I may be “gaijin” to my neighbors, but I am cool with that. I can’t conceal carry my 1911, but we can’t have everything now, can we?
Well, at least you don’t have to worry about Moerk. I understand that her emails are no longer accepted at the Pentagon.
HAHA! No Moerks in the vacinity. I do have to worry about Sailors robbing and killing the locals though.
That’s funny. Where I live in the US, there’s little crime, no “opoid epidemic,” we don’t worry about kids getting molested or shot by a gang-banger, either. Funny, that.
Now. About Japan’s suicide rate, which is something four times greater than in the US…
The situation with Harward seems like it’s being painted in primary colors by the news media, but his decision to turn Trump down could be the result of a combination of factors:
Harward has held for the past few years a high-level position with Lockheed Martin in the UAE. He might see the move to a Trump White House as being a step down for a variety of reasons even without the so-called unusual turmoil.
If you do some searching around, there’s little public biographical information about Harward’s family. His claim that he wants to slow down and enjoy his post-military retirement with family could be perfectly valid. Without specific evidence to the contrary, the news media should not be jumping to the conclusion that it’s merely an excuse to hide some other more nefarious reason.
While it may be true that the current atmosphere is toxic, Harward himself has apparently called it “a shit sandwich,” there’s a difference between turning a job down because you would find it a headache, and turning it down because it would not only be a headache but also because you might not have good ideas about how to fix it. Where the ultimate solution to the task at hand is simply beyond your skill set.
Here’s the evident fundamental problem: During the past eight years, Obama administration shoot-the-messenger policy was to politicize the intelligence community instead of letting it reflect the nature of things without fear or favor. In order to reverse that gestalt, it may be that what’s needed is a kind of vicious bureaucratic intrigue and treachery that created it in the first place. After a careful self assessment, Harward might have decided he was not the best person for the wide-scale blowing up of apparatchiks in their silos.
Or it could simply be that, as he said, it’s a 24/7 job and he’s got a better gig now after 40+ years of the 24/7 stuff.
Trump already has Flynn’s replacement working for him.
K. T. McFarland. She would be a fantastic NSA.