President Obama on Monday promoted an official to be his top adviser in the fight against the Islamic State, one he fired from his presidential campaign in 2008 for talking to Hamas.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Rob Malley, now a senior director at the National Security Council, would be his senior adviser for the counter-Islamic State program. Malley, a Clinton administration alumni, will work closely with Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter the Islamic State, Earnest said.
Malley was fired from then-Sen. Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign in 2008 for meeting with Hamas officials when he was an informal adviser to the campaign. Obama at the time was downplaying the idea he would negotiate with groups opposed to Israel.
While Obama’s camp said Malley was an outsider at the time, he became a senior director of the National Security Council.
Malley’s promotion was announced just as the administration called on Congress to take four key steps to fight the terrorist group. One of these steps is to change the law to outlaw gun sales to people on the nation’s “no-fly” list.
“The issue is simple: If the U.S. government has determined that it is too dangerous for you to board a plane, then you shouldn’t be able to buy a gun,” Earnest said. “[O]nly in Washington would this be a source of controversy.”
He also asked lawmakers to grant him new authorization for use of military force specifically directed at fighting the Islamic State. Calling Congress AWOL on the issue, Earnest said he understands that getting a new authorization for use of military force will likely take longer than the three legislative weeks lawmakers have left this year.
“This effort is serious and should be the subject of serious debate,” Earnest said. “It will obviously take more than three weeks … but Congress in each of these cases must stop using the fact that these issues are difficult as an excuse for doing nothing.”
The Senate could also advance the U.S. efforts to fight the Islamic State by confirming Adam Szubin as Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes, Earnest said. Szubin has been the acting undersecretary since February. He was appointed in August of 2006 as director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers the government’s economic-sanctions programs.
“To be clear, for a year, Republicans in Congress have been blocking the nomination of a man who is responsible for shutting down ISIL’s financing,” Earnest said, using the administration’s preferred acronym for the Islamic State. “Mr. Szubin is a financial expert with impeccable credentials, including his service to the country in the Bush administration.”
Finally, Obama wants Congress to codify the technical changes to the visa-waiver program’s security protocols he ordered earlier this year, and additional changes he directed Homeland Security and other departments to take on Monday.
Specifically, Earnest underscored Obama’s desire for lawmakers to sign off on an expansion of the preclearance program, through which Homeland Security officers inspect passengers and their luggage boarding U.S.-bound flights at foreign airports.
Rob Malley was fired from then-Sen. Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign in 2008 for meeting with Hamas offi… in Campaigns on LockerDome
