Retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward is quickly emerging as a leading contender to replace former national security adviser Mike Flynn, perhaps even the front-runner, according to some sources.
In the wake of Flynn’s resignation Monday night, Harward’s name entered circulation, along with retired Gen. David Petraeus and retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who assumed Flynn’s job after he resigned.
Harward enlisted in the Navy out of high school, got a fleet appointment to Annapolis, rose through the ranks to become a Navy SEAL, and ultimately became that community’s top commander. He retired in 2013 after serving as the three-star deputy to then-Gen. Jim Mattis at U.S. Central Command, who is now the defense secretary.
A source close to Mattis told the Washington Examiner that Harward was already being considered to be undersecretary of defense for intelligence, confirming the view that Mattis is likely leaning toward the retired SEAL.
Harward is also the preferred choice of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who served as an Air Force lawyer under Harward when he was in charge of detainee operations in Afghanistan. Graham told CNN that while all the candidates he has heard about are well qualified, Harward would be an “outstanding choice.”
Harward is familiar with the workings of the National Security Council, and has a background in counterterrorism, having served as director of strategy and policy for the NSC’s office of combating terrorism, during the Bush administration.
And having graduated from Tehran American High School in Iran, Harward speaks Farsi as well. His varied career, stellar military record and close friendship with Mattis, all combine to make Harward an unusually strong candidate.
Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward and retired Gen. David Petraeus are contenders to replace former national security adviser Mike Flynn after he resigned Monday night. (AP Photos)
Unlike Petraeus, Harward doesn’t come with any baggage. Petraeus was forced to resign as CIA director when it was revealed he was having an affair with his biographer, and had passed her classified material to aid in her research.
The affair was exposed when Petraeus’ mistress, Paula Broadwell, began emailing a prominent socialite in Tampa, Fla., named Jill Kelley. Democrats seemed lukewarm on Tuesday over the possibility of Petraeus replacing Flynn. Though the position does not require congressional confirmation or buy in, some top House Democrats said that putting someone in the position who pleaded guilty to handling classified information could pose a problem.
“While I respect him, the end of his tenure in government was not a pleasant one. So I would need to see all of the vetting information to see if they would be appropriate in that position,” said Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif, the vice chair of the Democratic caucus. “I’m skeptical of the choices they are making because clearly they’ve had a series of huge missteps in terms of who they’ve selected.”
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, however, said Petraeus would be a great choice to be the national security adviser regardless of any past transgressions.
“I think that Gen. Petraeus paid his penalty for what he did,” McCain told reporters. “To hold that against him for the rest of his career I think would be, that’s not the American way.”
Harward was serving in Tampa at the time of Petraeus’ affair, and was mentioned in some of Kelley’s emails reviewed by the FBI, but he was not caught up in the scandal.
According to a 2015 Washington Post account, at one point Kelley emailed the three-star admiral after a social event, “What a Leader you were to these heads of State,” she enthused. “You ROCK!!!” Harward replied “YOU ROCK MORE!”
Harward was never accused of any wrongdoing, in the same scandal that eventually cost Petraeus his job and tarnished his reputation.
Since 2014, Harward has been chief executive for Lockheed Martin United Arab Emirates, according to Bloomberg.
Kellogg, who is now the acting national security adviser, previously served as a military adviser to both President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush. He acted as a foreign policy adviser to Trump during the campaign and served on the National Security Council under Flynn.
Following his 32-year Army career, during which he led the 82nd Airborne Division, Kellogg entered the private sector and worked with several defense contractors, according to a Bloomberg biography. He served as the vice president of strategic initiatives as well as the vice president for ground combat programs at defense intelligence contractor Cubic Corporation. Kellogg also spent time in his private career at CACI International Inc. and Oracle Corp.
In the early 2000s, Kellogg was the chief operating officer of the Coalition Provisional Authority that oversaw the rebuilding of Baghdad, Iraq. In that role, he was known as an “expediter” who prioritized cutting through red tape, according to a Los Angeles Times report from 2003.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the president should look for a national security adviser who can act as an “honest broker” in the same vein as Stephen Hadley, who was national security adviser during President George W. Bush’s second term, and Brent Scowcroft, who served in that role under both President Gerald Ford and President George H.W. Bush.
McCain floated Hadley and retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who previously commanded Joint Special Operations Command, as other names that should make Trump’s shortlist.
“It should be a name that people will recognize so we can have confidence,” he said.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., declined to comment on the names that had been floated so far since the position does not require Senate confirmation.
“I think that he goes and selects from a very, I think, deep bench of other people that can fill the role,” Tillis told reporters in a hallway interview at the Capitol.
Al Weaver contributed to this report.
