president-elect donald trump has offered the job of national security adviser to retired lt. gen. michael flynn, people familiar with the process said thursday, a move that would elevate a longtime top intelligence officer who became known for criticizing the country<u+2019>s counter-terrorism policies from inside the military. if he accepts mr. trump<u+2019>s offer, gen. flynn will become the third person named to the president-elect<u+2019>s administration, alongside steve bannon, selected earlier this week as chief strategist , and reince priebus, named chief of staff. all three are white house appointments that don<u+2019>t require senate confirmation. as national security adviser, gen. flynn would counsel the president while also overseeing a white house staff of specialists who help formulate policies that are instituted across u.s. security and foreign policy agencies. though he had been floated as a possible secretary of defense, gen. flynn would have required a waiver from congress to serve in that post, because he hasn<u+2019>t been out of uniform for seven years. <u+200b> gen. flynn didn<u+2019>t respond to a request for comment. his arrival at the white house would follow a military career and post-military life marked by periods of controversy. in statements and writings, gen. flynn has said the u.s. needs to appreciate the scope of the threat from radical islamists who want to destroy the country. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re in a world war,<u+201d> he wrote in a book published this summer. <u+201c>but very few americans recognize it, and fewer still have any idea how to win it.<u+201d> during his 33-year career in the u.s. armed forces, gen. flynn made his name as a widely respected army officer known for his candor and unorthodox sensibilities about intelligence and military operations. the 57-year-old retired general served in top roles across the military, including as director of intelligence for the joint chiefs of staff and intelligence adviser to gen. stanley mcchrystal in iraq and afghanistan. by the end of his military tenure, he had become a maverick within the ranks of the normally deferential and apolitical corps of <u+201c>general officers,<u+201d> the military<u+2019>s top-ranking officials. in 2010, gen. flynn published a paper lambasting the military intelligence community for deficiencies in its approach to intelligence collection, taking the unusual step of releasing the study through the center for a new american security, a center-left think tank in washington. some officials at the pentagon said they saw his decision to go to an external think tank to air his grievances as thumbing his nose at the establishment. still, he rose through the ranks. his military career culminated in his 2012 appointment to run the defense intelligence agency, the u.s. military<u+2019>s answer to the cia. during his two-year tenure atop the agency, flynn tried to overhaul the way the u.s. military treats intelligence but also clashed with superiors and counterparts, officials and colleagues said. ultimately, james clapper, the director of national intelligence, and michael vickers, then-undersecretary of defense for intelligence, removed him from the post in 2014, forcing his retirement. in a july 9, 2016, article in the new york post, gen. flynn wrote that he had been fired for the stand he took <u+201c>on radical islamism and the expansion of al qaeda and its associated movements,<u+201d> describing his anger at the decision. gen. flynn argued that the obama administration rested on its laurels after killing osama bin laden in 2011 and underestimated the depth of the threat from al qaeda and its remnants. after u.s. troops pulled out of iraq, operatives who had led al qaeda in iraq coalesced to form islamic state and swept the country in 2014, seizing large swaths of territory in the face of an ill-prepared iraqi military. others suggested different reasons for gen. flynn<u+2019>s dismissal. colin powell, the former secretary of state and onetime chairman of the military<u+2019>s joint chiefs of staff, said in a july 19, 2016, email released by hackers in september that he spoke at dia and asked the officials there why gen. flynn was fired. <u+201c>abusive with staff, didn<u+2019>t listen, worked against policy, bad management, etc.,<u+201d> mr. powell wrote, going on to describe gen. flynn as a <u+201c>right-wing nutty.<u+201d> gen. flynn responded to the former secretary of state<u+2019>s comments in an appearance on fox news, saying he doesn<u+2019>t disparage people that way in his own emails. the retired general portrayed mr. powell as the sort of washington establishment figure the trump campaign was looking to replace. <u+201c>as a footnote in history, he is going to be always struggling for his credibility because of the statements that he made to the united nations that brought us into the war in iraq,<u+201d> gen. flynn said. <u+201c>and i<u+2019>ll tell you what, when i think about some of the dumb decisions that have been made over the years by people who have lived in the bubble of washington, d.c., we just can<u+2019>t have that anymore.<u+201d> gen. flynn<u+2019>s exit from the military paved the way for the launch of a consulting firm and his political rise. his high-profile participation in the trump campaign rankled many active-duty and retired generals, accustomed to keeping their political opinions private. some bristled at a speech he delivered at the republican national convention, during which he cheered on members of the crowd calling for hillary clinton to be locked up. another chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, retired gen. martin e. dempsey, criticized gen. flynn for his appearance there, calling on him and a retired marine corps general who appeared at the democratic national convention to uphold the apolitical traditions of u.s. generals and stop complicating their successors<u+2019> work. gen. flynn<u+2019>s comments on islam have drawn criticism for crafting an <u+201c>us-versus-them<u+201d> narrative that conflates the battle against islamist terrorism with a civilizational holy war. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t see islam as a religion,<u+201d> gen. flynn said in an appearance this summer at a meeting in texas of act for america, a grass-roots conservative national-security group, prompting the audience to erupt in applause. <u+201c>i see it as a political ideology.<u+201d> <u+200b><u+201c>in a way, it<u+2019>ll mask itself as a religion globally, especially in the west and especially in the united states,<u+201d> he added. <u+200b><u+201c>because it can hide itself and protect itself behind what we call freedom of religion.<u+201d> he has railed against those in the u.s. establishment who refuse to say islam itself is a problem. in a february post on twitter, he wrote: <u+201c>fear of muslims is rational.<u+201d> like mr. trump, gen. flynn has advocated for a rapprochement with russia on the basis that both countries should focus on countering islamist terrorism and iran<u+2019>s nuclear ambitions rather than each other. but he has also called president vladimir putin a dictator and a thug. a trip to russia six months after mr. trump declared his candidacy drew attention in the u.s. in december 2015, he visited moscow to participate in a 10-year anniversary gala for rt, the russian state-sponsored english language network, which secretary of state john kerry has described as a <u+201c>propaganda bullhorn<u+201d> for the kremlin. green party presidential candidate jill stein also attended. during the celebrations, gen. flynn gave an interview with one of the network<u+2019>s top presenters in front of an audience and was photographed sitting next to mr. putin at the gala dinner, a public-relations coup for moscow, which by then had been punished by washington for seizing a swath of territory in neighboring ukraine. in an interview this year with the washington post, gen. flynn defended his trip. he said the russian state network paid him through a speaking-engagement agent to attend the event, which he described as a <u+201c>great learning opportunity.<u+201d> gen. flynn promoted a view, backed by mr. trump on the campaign trail, that the pentagon shouldn<u+2019>t talk about its campaign to retake the iraqi city of mosul from islamic state and instead conceal its operations. secretary of defense ash carter later disputed the matter, saying islamic state followers needed to see that the attack was occurring to undercut the group<u+2019>s claims to the establishment of a caliphate. former military officials also questioned whether a large-scale concealed attack on mosul, a city of about a million people, would be possible given the size and scope of the campaign. some uniformed officers at the pentagon shook their heads as gen. flynn continued to support mr. trump on the campaign trail, even after the republican candidate said he would approve waterboarding and expand the inmate population at guantanamo bay. <u+2014>damian paletta and gordon lubold contributed to this article. write to paul sonne at paul.sonne@wsj.com and michael c. bender at mike.bender@wsj.com
donald trump offers michael flynn role as national security adviser - wsj
paul sonne michael c. bender