White House Shakeup: Trump Replaces Homeland Security Adviser
President Donald Trump on Friday named Rear Adm. Douglas Fears his new homeland security adviser.
Fears fills the post vacated in April by Tom Bossert, who stepped down after Trump selected John Bolton to serve as his national security adviser, The Hill reported.
Fears will serve as deputy assistant to the president and homeland security and counterterrorism adviser on the National Security Council staff, according to a statement from Bolton.
He formerly served as special assistant to the president and senior director for resilience policy at the National Security Council.
“Doug Fears brings more than three decades of experience across a range of vital homeland security areas including counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and disaster response to the NSC,” Bolton said in the statement.
“Doug will serve as the President’s Homeland Security Advisor and my point person on an array of vital tasks ranging from overseeing the NSC Cybersecurity Directorate to coordinating the interagency efforts during disaster response,” Bolton said.
Fears has more than 30 years of experience with the U.S. Coast Guard.
He is a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, the U.S. Naval War College and Harvard University, the statement said.
His experience also includes service on eight ships in various parts of the world, The Washington Times reported. Fears was the commanding officer on three ships.
In 2014, he took command of the national security cutter Hamilton for its first assignment at sea.
He had to build the ship’s command from scratch.
“I was just tickled to death to get the call that I was coming to Hamilton,” he told the Military Times.
“It’s like playing with a big Rubik’s cube,” he said then. “You know what the pieces are, but you don’t necessarily know what sequence they need to be assembled in.”
At the time, he contrasted a 2014 cutter with older models in service.
‘They’re both Mustangs, they both kind of look the same. You know, four tires, steering wheel,” he said.
“But they’re completely different machines, with everything from power windows to computer-assisted brakes. That’s the kind of technological leap we’ve taken by building these new ships,” Fears added.
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