H.R. McMaster

Former assistant to the president for national security affairs, retired United States Army lieutenant general, fellow of the Hoover Institution, and chairman of a Foundation for Defense of Democracies advisory board

H.R. McMaster
Image	Official portrait as director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center and deputy commanding general, Futures, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, 15 July 2014. Photograph by the U.S. Army (public domain).
Known for	Former assistant to the president for national security affairs; Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; chairman of the Board of Advisors at the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies

H.R. McMaster (also recorded as H. R. McMaster, Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond “H.R.” McMaster and Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general, the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and the chairman of the Board of Advisors at the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Official sources record his service as assistant to the president for national security affairs. The official name-forms, titles and dates are all stated as the sources give them and are not collapsed.

The official Hoover Institution fellow profile records that H.R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, that at Stanford University he is also lecturer at the Graduate School of Business, and that he served as a commissioned officer in the US Army for thirty-four years and as the twenty-fifth assistant to the U.S. president for national security affairs. The official Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty biography and the official Foundation for Defense of Democracies team biography instead record that he was the 26th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs, and that he served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018. Those official numberings, titles and date-points are all stated and are not collapsed.

An official White House presidential action issued on 20 February 2017 recorded that President Donald Trump announced the appointment of Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond “H.R.” McMaster to serve as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, that he is a graduate of West Point and received a Ph.D from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and that, prior to accepting the appointment, he served as Director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center and as Deputy Commanding General, Futures at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. An official White House statement issued on 15 March 2017 recorded the Senate's confirmation of his nomination to continue to serve in the United States Army at the rank of Lieutenant General while also serving as National Security Advisor. An official White House statement by Lieutenant General H.R McMaster, issued on 6 April 2018, recorded that over the past year he was honored to serve as President Donald J. Trump’s National Security Advisor, and wished his successor, Ambassador John Bolton, the very best. Those official titles and dated statements are all stated; the official 6 April 2018 statement does not itself record a last day in office, and the official Stanford and Foundation biographies record that he retired as a Lieutenant General in June 2018.

The official Hoover, Stanford and Foundation biographies record that, as the director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, he designed the future army, and that as commanding general of the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning he oversaw training and education for the Army’s infantry, armor and cavalry force. The official Stanford and Foundation biographies record that from 2014 to 2017 he was the director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center and the deputy commanding general of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command. They also record wartime commands including the Combined Joint Inter-Agency Task Force—Shafafiyat in Kabul, Afghanistan, from 2010 to 2012 on the official Foundation biography (the official Stanford biography records a multi-national task force in Kabul and command of Combined Joint Inter-Agency Task Force Shafafiyat in Kabul, Afghanistan, 2010–2012); the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Iraq from 2005 to 2006; and Eagle Troop, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Operation Desert Storm from 1990 to 1991 on the official Foundation biography. The official Hoover profile likewise records command of Combined Joint Inter-Agency Task Force–Shafafiyat in Afghanistan; the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment in Iraq; and Eagle Troop, Second Armored Cavalry Regiment in Operation Desert Storm. Those official wordings and date-ranges are all stated.

The official Hoover, Stanford and Foundation biographies record that he holds a PhD in military history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, that he was an assistant professor of history at the United States Military Academy, and, in the official Stanford and Foundation biographies, that that appointment was from 1994 to 1996. The official Foundation biography records that he was commissioned as an officer in the United States Army upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1984. The official Hoover profile records that he is author of Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies that Led to Vietnam; Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World; and At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House.

The official Foundation team biography, headed LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster, records that Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, US Army (Ret.) serves as the Chairman of the Board of Advisors at the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

External links

• Hoover Institution, official fellow profile of H.R. McMaster
• Stanford Graduate School of Business, official faculty biography of H.R. McMaster
• The White House, official announcement of the appointment of Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, 20 February 2017
• The White House, official statement by Lieutenant General H.R McMaster, 6 April 2018
• Foundation for Defense of Democracies, official team biography of LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster (official URL; a live retrieval in this wave returned HTTP 403; a 1 January 2025 Wayback Machine capture was opened)
• Wikimedia Commons, official U.S. Army portrait of Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster (public domain)