Ezra Cohen-Watnick Fired From National Security Council

By Nathan Guttman August 2, 2017

Days after Gen. John Kelly took over as White House chief of staff and immediately fired communication director Anthony Scaramucci, National Security Adviser Gen. H. R. McMaster is asserting his own authority with the firing of Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the National Security Council’s senior director for intelligence.

“General McMaster appreciates the good work accomplished in the NSC’s Intelligence directorate under Ezra Cohen’s leadership,” a White House official said in a statement Wednesday evening. “He has determined that, at this time, a different set of experiences is best-suited to carrying that work forward. General McMaster is confident that Ezra will make many further significant contributions to national security in another position in the administration.”

McMaster had sought to oust Cohen-Watnick, a 31-year-old rising star who was close to former NSC director Michael Flynn, from the moment he took over as national security adviser, but strong backing from Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon helped the top staffer keep his job.

Cohen-Watnick made headlines back in March after he reportedly provided intelligence information to Devin Nunes, the Republican chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman*

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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