“A man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience” — that’s how Donald Trump described Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster in announcing his choice to replace Michael Flynn as national security advisor. McMaster will lead Trump’s national security team with interim acting advisor Keith Kellogg returning to his role as chief of staff to the National Security Council. McMaster stated, “I look forward to joining the national security team and doing everything I can to advance and protect the interests of the American people.”

Trump’s choice has been met with high praise throughout Washington. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) gushed, “I could not imagine a better, more capable national security team.”

McMaster is known as a highly intelligent and fearlessly outspoken leader cut from the same cloth as Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis. He was awarded the Silver Star for his leadership in the Gulf War at the tank Battle of 73 Easting. He is a brains-before-bullets kind of a commander, encouraging military leadership to be well read. A scholar of military history, he wrote “Dereliction of Duty,” a treatise highly critical of uniformed leadership during the Vietnam War for their failure to stand up to Lyndon Johnson’s civil decision makers, which lead to the war becoming the very quagmire leftists wanted it to be. And McMaster’s prior tasking was to estimate future threats, which makes him a great fit for the NSA role. Trump’s greatest strength so far may be finding the right people for the right job.