Donald Trump’s new pick for national security advisor is Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster. McMaster has received deserved praise for his study of the Vietnam War, Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam, accusing the joint chiefs of lacking the nerve to tell their civilian masters that committing U.S. troops in Vietnam was likely to lead to disaster. More recently, however, his capacity for truth-telling has been more strained, to wit: In recent testimony before Congress, McMaster informed his listeners that “Russia possesses a variety of rocket, missile and cannon artillery systems that outrange and are more lethal than U.S. Army artillery systems and munitions.” Unfortunately, no one asked McMaster to explain how the Russians were able to do this on a budget one seventh as large ($84 billion vs. $598 billion). For additional refutation of McMaster’s three-star nonsense, check out this article by Mark Perry for Politico. Here’s hoping we get the “good” Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster.
