By Eric Patrick
US President Donald Trump has named Lt Gen HR
McMaster as his national security adviser.
He will replace Lt Gen Michael Flynn who was fired after
just three weeks and three days in the job.
A lieutenant general with the US Army, HR McMaster
served incorruptionfghanistan, where he worked on a government anti-corruption drive.
Mr Trump's first choice, retired Vice Admiral Robert
Harward, turned down the role, citing "personal reasons".
Announcing the appointment at his Mar-a-Lago estate
in Florida, President Trump called Gen McMaster "a man
of tremendous talent and tremendous experience".
"He is highly respected by everybody in the military," he
said.
Gen Flynn stepped down after misleading Vice-President
Mike Pence over his conversations with Russia's
ambassador to the US.
Keith Kellogg, who took over as acting national security adviser after the resignation, will now serve as the National Security Council chief of staff.
Correspondents say Gen McMaster is known for
expressing his views and questioning authority. Time magazine named him as one of its 100 most influential
people in the world in 2014, saying he "might be the 21st Century Army's pre-eminent warrior- thicker" .
Thanking the US president for the new position on
Monday, Gen McMaster said: "I would just like to say what
a privilege it is to be able to continue serving our nation
and I'm grateful to you for that opportunity.
"I look forward to joining the National Security team and
doing everything I can to advance and protect the interest
of the American people."
Earlier President Trump had been forced to deny
accusations that he was struggling to find a replacement
for Gen Flynn, telling reporters on Air Force One on
Saturday that he had "many, many that want the job".
The other candidates in the running were Robert Caslen,
an Army lieutenant general who is the superintendent of
the US Military Academy at West Point, and career
diplomat John Bolton, who served as George W Bush's ambassador to the UN from August 2006 to December
2006.
Mr Trump held interviews with the four men at Mar-a-
Lago where he spent the third weekend in a row.
He has called Mar-a-Lago, a private property, the
"Southern White House".

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