Dina Powell: Trump's first Arab American deputy NSA
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
The New York Times
Dina Powell, President Trump’s senior counselor for economic initiatives, has been named as a deputy national security adviser for strategy, Trump administration officials said Wednesday.
The selection of Ms. Powell is the most prominent appointment on the National Security Council staff since Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster was picked last month to serve as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser.
K. T. McFarland will continue to serve as the principal deputy national security adviser, making her the second-ranking official after General McMaster.
Ms. Powell was asked to take the job by General McMaster, who wants to put a greater emphasis at the council on developing and implementing strategy. Although she does not have extensive experience on national security issues, Ms. Powell has spent 15 years in government, has worked in the private sector and has a broad network of contacts.
Ms. Powell also works closely with Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and will be his closest liaison with the council.
Ms. Powell was recently the president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation. During her years at Goldman Sachs, she worked with Gary Cohn, Mr. Trump’s senior economic policy adviser, and she is expected to continue her role working on the administration’s economic initiatives.
She was born in Egypt, is fluent in Arabic and participated in Mr. Trump’s meeting this week with Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Arabian deputy crown prince and defense minister.
Ms. Powell was an assistant secretary of state for education and cultural affairs during President George W. Bush’s administration. Before working at the State Department, she was an assistant to the president for personnel. In the early phase of her career, she worked on Capitol Hill, and she has close relationships with Democrats as well as Republicans.
Her familiarity with working across government agencies may be useful for an administration that has gotten off to a rocky start.
“General McMaster understands that one of the things that is going to be especially important is interagency coordination, and to get that right requires additional senior level talent and somebody with real clout,” said Michael Anton, a spokesman for the council. “Ms. Powell’s private and public sector expertise will be essential.”
General McMaster has also asked Nadia Schadlow to join his staff as a deputy assistant to the president for national security strategy. Ms. Schadlow served as a senior officer at the Smith Richardson Foundation and is the author of a recent book that examined 15 cases in which the United States Army intervened abroad, and the service’s role in political and economic reconstruction.
She will be tasked with drafting the United States national security strategy, a comprehensive statement of the administration’s foreign policy and defense goals, which is issued by the White House.
