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Donald Trump's second pick for national security adviser — Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond 'HR' McMaster — is a highly regarded military officer and soldier who is known for his roles in the Gulf War, the Iraq War and the war in Afghanistan.
General McMaster — who has called the appointment a "privilege" — follows the departure of the embattled Michael Flynn who resigned from the position after reports he misled the White House about his contacts with Russian officials.
But the choice of 54-year-old General McMaster — who is known as the Iconoclast General — has surprised some observers who are wondering how the Trump administration would deal with a military strongman known for questioning authority.
Here are four important points to know about the US' new national security adviser:
1. 'Dereliction of Duty'
In 1997, General McMaster rose to prominence after writing the book Dereliction of Duty, which criticised the country's military and political leadership for poor leadership during the Vietnam War.
The book maintained that senior officers should have challenged former president Lyndon B Johnson's and defence secretary Robert McNamara's lack of a strategy to handle the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army.
Despite its iconoclastic nature, Dereliction of Duty remains highly influential in the US military community and is suggested reading for the Marine Corps and Pentagon.
2. Iconoclasm cost McMaster promotions
Despite his renowned reputation as a top officer in the Iraq War, General McMaster was twice passed over for promotion to Brigadier General in 2006 and 2007.
No official reasoning was given for passing over General McMaster, but it was generally accepted within the military community that his iconoclasm and questioning of the status quo cost him the role.
General McMaster was eventually promoted to the position in 2008 — by General David Petraeus, who took himself off the list last week for national security adviser — but his iconoclastic nature has remained a significant point of consideration.
3. He knows the US military's history... well
General McMaster's Dereliction of Duty book began as part of a PhD thesis in American history at the University of North Carolina.
As a student of the US military, he has often maintained that despite immense technological advancements, the human aspects of war remain and are unavoidable on the field.
"We assumed that advances in [technology] and so on were going to make war fast, cheap, efficient, and relatively risk-free — but that's not true, of course," General McMaster said in a 2012 interview.
In the same interview, General McMaster also maintained that despite his forward-thinking approach, his understanding of the history of the military continued to remain a huge influence on how he makes future decisions.
General McMaster posited early on that a lack of planning for a sustainable political outcome in both Iraq and Afghanistan was a failure that unnecessarily complicated both of those wars.
4. 100 most influential people in the world
In 2014 General McMaster made Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
In an accompanying piece written by Lieutenant General Dave Barno, who commanded US forces in Afghanistan, General McMaster is hailed as "the architect of the future US Army".
General McMaster's feature on Time's 2014 list followed years of recognition in Iraq as "one of the most celebrated soldiers" and appraisal as an "unconventional" yet "impressive" military officer.
In Iraq, General McMaster's approaches to battles were considered legendary.
He trained his soldiers in Iraqi culture, detailed the differences between Sunnis, Shiites and Turkmen, and had soldiers read books on the history of the region and counterinsurgency strategy.
It was a sharp change from the "kill and capture" tactics the United States had used in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003, and to which the Obama administration returned in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
Months after featuring in Time Magazine's list, General McMaster was officially promoted to Lieutenant General.
Topics: donald-trump, government-and-politics, defence-and-national-security, united-states
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