McMaster Could Lose Three-Star General Status If He Fails Senate Confirmation

LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST:

By Juliegrace Brufke

Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster will need to pass a Senate confirmation vote if he wants to maintain his status as a three-star general while serving as President Donald Trump’s national security advisor.

McMaster — who was tapped for the position after Michael Flynn resigned in the wake of a scandal involving him providing misleading information on a call with a Russian diplomat to the vice president — doesn’t require Senate approval unless he wants to keep his military status.

Currently, three- and four-star admirals and generals’ ranks are tied with the position they are in, requiring them to be reconfirmed in their new position in the upper chamber if they don’t want to drop to a two-star rank.

“Gen. McMaster does not require Senate confirmation to serve as national security adviser,” a Senate Armed Services aide told Politico. “However, if it is the president’s desire that Gen. McMaster serve as national security adviser while in his current grade of lieutenant general, the law requires that Gen. McMaster would have to be reappointed by the president and reconfirmed by the Senate in that grade for his new position.”

While he would need to be confirmed to keep his rank, he would not likely have to have a Senate hearing for his new role.

Follow Juliegrace Brufke on Twitter