Trump goes for an unknown as his national security adviser

Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, is already one of the most powerful people in the Trump administration. But now he has climbed a notch higher up the ladder in the business of advising the president. He has persuaded Trump to appoint one of HIS officials to be the next national security adviser. Robert O'Brien, a very clever lawyer and serious Republican and the State Department's expert in hostage negotiations, is to become Trump's fourth national security adviser, following the abrupt departure of John Bolton. He's a Pompeo man through and through. So definitely one up for Pompeo, especially after the falling out with Bolton. He and Bolton started off sounding like each other. They both, for example, had a thing about Iran. Pompeo, from his CIA days, knew or said he knew that Iraq was cheating with its suspected clandestine nuclear weapons programme. Even after the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was signed which allowed for verification of Iranian nuclear plants, Pompeo said they were cheating and fooling everyone. Bolton always felt the same way. Pompeo and Bolton were two tough cookies together standing on either side of Trump and whispering into his ears about the malevolence of the Tehran regime. Trump didn't need any persuading which was why he withdrew the US from the 2015 deal. But Pompeo I think was better at reading the runes in the White House than his Cold War warrior compatriot. Bolton plugged away with his own right-wing views on the world while Pompeo realised that Trump wanted to do different things, even crazy things, like talk to Kim Jong-un, North Korean Rocket Man, and therefore became more circumspect with his advice. Bolton had rows with him and wasn't slow in demonstrating his opposition to the North Korea policy to Trump. So Bolton got shafted and Pompeo reigns supreme. Now his man O'Brien is getting the top security job in the White House and the two of them will be like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, no offence intended. The other names on the shortlist for the national security adviser job were a mixed bunch of individuals, none of them in the super high-profile class, like Bolton. Probably the best of them was Fred Fleitz, former chief of staff to Bolton with a long career behind him in the CIA and Defence Intelligence Agency. But I guess his close connection to Bolton somewhat mired his chances of getting the job. So it's lawyer O'Brien who steps into Bolton's shoes. Good luck.