Robert C. O'Brien

Robert Charles O'Brien Jr. (born June 18, 1966) is an American attorney who was the twenty-seventh United States national security advisor from 2019 to 2021. He was the fourth and final person to hold the position during the first presidency of Donald Trump. He is currently the chairman of the American Global Strategies consulting firm.

Early life and education

O'Brien was born in Los Angeles and raised in Santa Rosa, California, where he attended Cardinal Newman High School. He won a Rotary scholarship to study at the University of the Free State in South Africa in 1987. He received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1989, and a Juris Doctor from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1992.

Early career

From 1996 to 1998, O'Brien was a legal officer with the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva, Switzerland. O'Brien was a major in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the United States Army Reserve.

Private practice

O'Brien was the California managing partner of the law firm Arent Fox LLP for seven years.

O'Brien was a founding partner, along with former federal judge Stephen Larson, of the Los Angeles boutique law firm Larson O'Brien LLP, which they established in January 2016. O'Brien retired from the firm when he was appointed national security advisor.

George W. Bush and Obama administrations

O'Brien was nominated by President George W. Bush as the U.S. alternate representative to the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly during 2005–06.

O'Brien was co-chairman of the U.S. Department of State's Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan, launched in December 2007, which "promoted the rule of law" in Afghanistan by training judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys. He continued this role during the first term of the Obama administration.

On July 31, 2008, President Bush announced his intention to appoint O'Brien to serve in his administration as a member of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, an advisory committee on issues involving antiquities and cultural matters, for the remainder of a three-year term which expired on April 25, 2011.

Mitt Romney 2012 campaign

In October 2011, O'Brien was named to Mitt Romney's advisory team as co-chair of the International Organizations Work Group.

2016 presidential election

Later, in May 2015, he became an adviser on foreign policy and national security affairs for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's presidential campaign. After Walker left the race, O'Brien advised Ted Cruz's campaign. During the time he advised Cruz's presidential campaign, he said: "It's clear that Vladimir Putin just doesn't like [Hillary Clinton], and is going to do what he can to help Donald Trump."

First Trump administration (2017–2019)

In 2017, O'Brien was under consideration by the Donald Trump administration to serve as secretary of the navy. The Orange County Register editorial board endorsed O'Brien to serve in this position. Later in the administration, O'Brien advocated publicly for a larger Navy and visited several U.S. shipyards.

From May 25, 2018 to October 3, 2019, O'Brien served as the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs. He was given the rank of ambassador one year after his appointment. As envoy for hostage affairs, O'Brien attended the trial of the American rapper ASAP Rocky, on assault charges, in Stockholm, Sweden, telling reporters, "The president sent me here, so it's totally appropriate. I also help free people that are held by governments, so unjustly detained Americans." O'Brien had written the Swedish government warning of "negative consequences" if the case was not resolved. The Swedish government and court rejected political pressure in the case, citing rule-of-law principles; the rapper was ultimately convicted of assault, and sentenced to time served.

In 2018, as envoy for hostage affairs, O'Brien helped obtain the release of American pastor Andrew Brunson, who had been held prisoner for two years in Turkey, raising U.S.-Turkish tensions. O'Brien was also involved in obtaining the release of Danny Burch, an American oil worker held in Yemen for a year, and who ultimately received an Oval Office meeting with President Trump. In June 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron awarded O'Brien the rank of chevalier in the Legion d'honneur, in part for his assistance in helping to rescue two French hostages kidnapped abroad.

National security advisor

Appointment

O'Brien took office as the twenty-seventh United States national security advisor on September 18, 2019. President Trump appointed O'Brien to succeed John Bolton, who resigned earlier that month. A few days later, O'Brien announced that Matthew Pottinger would become the deputy national security advisor, replacing Charles Kupperman in that role. O'Brien was seen as a traditional foreign policy conservative rather than a firebrand.

Early in his tenure, O'Brien accompanied Vice President Mike Pence to meet Turkish President Recep Erdogan in efforts to achieve a ceasefire between Turkey and Kurdish forces in Syria after the U.S. abruptly withdrew military forces that stood between Turkish and Kurdish forces.

In December 2019, O'Brien defended Trump's decision to pardon Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who was accused by several fellow Navy SEAL members of his platoon of shooting unarmed civilians who posed no threat and of murdering an injured 17-year-old ISIS fighter, but who was convicted of only "wrongfully posing for an unofficial picture with a human casualty".

After the Trump administration's January 2020 drone strike against Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and commander of its Quds Force, O'Brien defended the intelligence the administration used to justify the killing, arguing that Soleimani had been planning attacks on U.S. military and diplomatic installations in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.

The National Security Council under O'Brien focused on China; he aligned himself with Peter Navarro, a fellow hardliner on China. He threatened sanctions against China if it moved to pass a national security law that pro-democracy activists believed would undermine freedom in Hong Kong. O'Brien also criticized China for its actions amid territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and oversaw an increase in U.S. and allied military activity intended to guarantee freedom of navigation. O'Brien criticized China's government, saying in a speech that "The Chinese Communist Party is Marxist-Leninist," and "The party General Secretary Xi Jinping sees himself as Josef Stalin’s successor." In the same speech, he asserted: "Together with our allies and partners, we will resist the Chinese Communist Party's efforts to manipulate our people and our governments, damage our economies, and undermine our sovereignty."

When many other intelligence officials who had been involved in briefing Trump on national security characterized Trump as inattentive, O'Brien disputed the characterization, saying Trump was "laser-focused on the issues at hand and asks probing questions throughout the briefings — it reminds me of appearing before a well-prepared appellate judge and defending the case."

In May 2020, after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, O'Brien rejected that there was systemic racism in U.S. police forces.

In an article published on July 12, 2020, three weeks after the release of his predecessor's book The Room Where It Happened, O'Brien defended Trump's record on China, stating that "the United States continues to stand against the Chinese Communist Party’s coercive population-control policies, especially as they are aimed at the Uighurs."

COVID-19 pandemic

O'Brien was involved in early deliberations about reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic. In early March 2020, O'Brien and Alex Azar advised Trump to halt travel from Europe, disagreeing with several other Trump advisors, including Steve Mnuchin and Larry Kudlow. According to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, O'Brien counseled Trump that, "This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency...This is going to be the roughest thing you face."

In May 2020, O'Brien said of China's handling of the pandemic: "The cover-up that they did of the virus is going to go down in history along with Chernobyl." In December 2020, O'Brien explained in an interview that China "absolutely could have done more" when it came to COVID-19 and that "the Chinese loss of credibility will be very difficult for them to overcome".