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'{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = K. T. McFarland |image = KT McFarland by Gage Skidmore.jpg |office = [[United States Ambassador to Singapore]] {{small|Nominee}} |president = [[Donald Trump]] |term_start = TBD* |term_end = |succeeding = Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath {{small|(Acting)}} |predecessor = Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath {{small|(Acting)}} |successor = |office1 = [[Deputy National Security Advisor (United States)|Deputy National Security Advisor]] |president1 = [[Donald Trump]] |term_start1 = January 20, 2017 |term_end1 = {{circa}}May 19, 2017 |alongside1 = [[Dina Powell]] |predecessor1 = [[Avril Haines]] |successor1 = [[Ricky L. Waddell]] |birth_name = Kathleen Troia |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|7|22}} |birth_place = [[Madison, Wisconsin]], [[United States|U.S.]] |death_date = |death_place = |party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] |spouse = Alan McFarland |children = 3 2 stepchildren |education = [[George Washington University]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])}} [[University of Oxford]] {{small|([[Master of Arts|MA]])}} [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] |footnotes = {{small|*Pending Senate confirmation}} }} '''Kathleen Troia McFarland''' (born July 22, 1951) is an American government official and commentator who is the nominee to become the next [[United States Ambassador to Singapore]]. McFarland served as [[Deputy National Security Advisor]] to President [[Donald Trump]] during the first months of 2017.<ref>{{cite news|title=President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Kathleen Troia (“K.T.”) McFarland to be the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Singapore|url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/19/president-donald-j-trump-announces-intent-nominate-kathleen-troia-kt|accessdate=15 June 2017|publisher=The White House|date=May 19, 2017}}</ref> McFarland formerly served as a staff member on the [[U.S. National Security Council]] in the 1970s and a staff member at the [[United States Department of Defense|Defense Department]] in the 1980s. McFarland ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Party nomination in the [[United States Senate election in New York, 2006]], then was a [[Fox News]] national security analyst and a contributor to its website opinion page in the 2010s. ==Early life== McFarland was born '''Kathleen Troia''' on July 22, 1951, in [[Madison, Wisconsin]]. Her father was a train dispatcher for the [[Chicago and Northwestern Railroad]].<ref name= announced >{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/28/style/kathleen-troia-defense-aide-to-wed.html |title=Kathleen Troia, Defense Aide, to Wed |website=NYTimes.com |date=1984-10-28 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> The oldest of four siblings,<ref name=mag/> she grew up in Madison.<ref name =sun/> She would later say that watching Disney heroines overcome great obstacles inspired her towards believing that women could achieve whatever they wanted.<ref name=foxfem/> Troia attended [[Madison West High School]], graduating in 1969.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://madisonwestalumni.ning.com/m/profile?screenName=0sjjsb719en76 |title=Kathleen Troia McFarland's Page – Madison West High Alumni |website=Madisonwestalumni.ning.com |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> ==Education and early government positions== McFarland (known then as Troia) studied at [[George Washington University]] in Washington, D.C.<ref name=post/> and worked part-time at the [[White House]] during the [[Nixon administration]] assigned to the night-time typing pool for [[Henry Kissinger]]'s [[U.S. National Security Council]] staff.<ref name=mag/> This led to her typing the [[President's Daily Brief]].<ref name=USNA>{{cite web|url=https://www.usna.edu/LeadershipConference/Archive/2010/panelist-mcfarland.php |title=Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland :: Leadership Conference :: USNA |website=Usna.edu |date=2017-01-19 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref><ref name=mag/> Intrigued by U.S. foreign policy and the [[1972 Nixon visit to China]], Troia majored in [[Chinese studies]]<ref name=mag/> and graduated from George Washington University.<ref name=mag>{{cite news|last1=Eaton|first1=Phoebe|title=Grand Old Class War|url=http://nymag.com/guides/summer/17407/index2.html|work=New York|date=July 3, 2007}}</ref><ref name=post>{{cite news|last1=Burke|first1=Cathy|title=Hill Foe 'KT' Out Her Dying Brother|url=http://nypost.com/2006/06/25/hill-foe-kt-outed-her-dying-brother/|work=New York Post|date=June 25, 2006}}</ref> [[File:Scowcroft, Georgetown University Undergraduates - October 29, 1974(Gerald Ford Library)(1552836).pdf|thumb|250px|Troia as note taker during October 1974 [[U.S. National Security Council|NSC]] event]] She continued to work in the White House during the [[Ford administration]] as a [[research assistant]]<ref name=polsup>{{cite web|last=Shafer |first=Jack |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/kt-mcfarland-deputy-national-security-advisor-232388 |title=Flynn deputy raises more doubts about Trump team |publisher=Politico |date=2015-06-30 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> and at times assisted or filled in for the NSC press liaison.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/guides/findingaid/nsapresscong.asp |title=Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum |website=Fordlibrarymuseum.gov |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref><ref name=Fox>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/11/25/trump-names-k-t-mcfarland-as-deputy-national-security-adviser.html "Trump names K.T. McFarland as deputy national security adviser"], ''Fox News'', November 25, 2016. Retrieved 2016-12-05.</ref> She is sometimes considered a Kissinger protégée.<ref name=healy> {{Cite news|first=Patrick |last=Healy |title=Clinton Challenger Pulled From Reagan-Era Hat |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/03/nyregion/03challenger.html |work=The New York Times |page=A1 |date=March 3, 2006 |accessdate=February 5, 2007}}</ref><ref name=mag/> After working in the Ford administration, with a desire to be "taken really seriously," Troia studied on scholarship at [[Oxford University]].<ref name=mag/><ref name=USNA/> There, she earned a combined bachelor's degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, and was later conferred an honorary master's as is convention in Oxford and Cambridge.<ref name=announced/> Troia went to the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] where she undertook concentrations in nuclear weapons, China, and the Soviet Union.<ref name=USNA/> She spent three years there in study toward PhD, ending up in the [[all but dissertation]] state.<ref name=":0"/><ref name=100k/> The title of her unfinished thesis was "The Sino-Soviet nuclear confrontation of 1969 from the point of view of the Herman Kahn stepladder period of escalation".<ref name=mag/> A second thesis attempt may have been entitled "The President's Strategic Defense Initiative".<ref name=wed/> She returned to Washington in 1981 following the election of [[Ronald Reagan]] as President and the new Republican majority in the U.S. Senate and became a member of the [[Senate Armed Services Committee]] staff, working for chair [[John Tower]].<ref name="NYT"/> There she worked on the preparation of committee briefings and [[talking point]]s.<ref name=mag/> In later years, McFarland commented on this time in the context of women forcing their way to greater opportunities.<ref name=foxfem >{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/11/24/national-security-expert-thankful-for-my-daughters-and-walt-disney.html |title=National Security expert: Thankful for my daughters and Walt Disney |publisher=[[Fox News]] |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> In particular, she recalled: "I'll never forget being at a Capitol Hill staff meeting in the early 1980s, after being at the top of my class at Oxford University and teaching nuclear weapons at MIT. One of the male staff members who was several years my junior, not as well qualified and not as productive, felt entitled enough to ask me to get him coffee. Later, when I asked my boss about it, he suggested I might want to throttle back on working so hard, because it was making the men on the staff feel threatened."<ref name=foxfem/> ==Reagan administration== Then, in the [[Reagan administration]], when she was known as Kathy Troia,<ref name =Atlantic >{{cite web|author=Siddhartha Mahanta|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/12/mcfarland-trump-reagan-weinberger-flynn-washington-fox/510323/|title=K.T. McFarland: A Reagan Veteran in Trumpworld|magazine=The Atlantic|date=December 12, 2016}}</ref> she served as the speechwriter for [[United States Secretary of Defense]] [[Caspar Weinberger]] beginning in March 1982.<ref name="NYT"/> In particular she worked on the Secretary's "[[Weinberger Doctrine|Six Tests for the Use of U.S. Military Power]]" speech, which is sometimes considered a forerunner of the [[Powell Doctrine]].<ref name=mercy/> Speechwriting was a significant activity in the Reagan administration because it forced a decision to be reached among battling factions, sometimes with the president intervening to settle a policy matter.<ref name=speech>{{cite news|last=Gelb |first=Leslie H. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/11/us/listening-between-the-lines.html |title=Listening Between The Lines |website=NYTimes.com |date=1985-02-11 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> Similar battles took place within the Pentagon, and she said that speeches were used to "short-circuit layers and layers of conflicting interests" in the defense bureaucracy.<ref name=speech/> She likened the particular process she and Weinberger used to the traditional negative response model of the [[Book of the Month Club]]: "We'd send out the speech draft with a note saying that if we haven't heard from you by a certain day, we'll assume you agree. The responses were quick and usually on the major issues."<ref name=speech/> In December 1983 she was promoted to Principal Deputy to Michael I. Birch, the [[Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs]].<ref name="NYT"/><ref name =Atlantic/> She later became the Pentagon spokesperson.<ref name=USNA/> She was reportedly under consideration for the Assistant Secretary job itself.<ref>{{cite web|last=Clarity |first=James F. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/05/us/briefing-014629.html |title=Briefing |location=Washington (Dc) |website=NYTimes.com |date=1983-07-05 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> She stayed in this position until around November 1984.<ref name="NYT"/> ==Marriage and family== Troia married Alan Roberts McFarland on January 12, 1985, at the [[National Cathedral]] in Washington.<ref name=wed>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/13/style/kathleen-troia-ex-defense-aide-is-wed-in-captial.html |title=Kathleen Troia, Ex-Defense Aide, Is Wed In Captial [sic] |website=NYTimes.com |date=1985-01-13 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> He was a general partner in [[Lazard Frères]]<ref name=announced/> who went on to become a well-known investment banker<ref name=team/> and a founder of McFarland, Dewey & Co.<ref name=acu >{{cite web|url=http://cpac.conservative.org/speakers/kt-mcfarland/ |title=Conservative Political Action Conference | KT McFarland |website=Cpac.conservative.org |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> Beginning in 1985, K. T. McFarland became a [[stay-at-home mother]].<ref name=healy/> The couple had three children together, along with two from his first marriage to whom she became stepmother.<ref name=polsup/><ref name=real/><ref name=sun>{{cite web|author=John P. Avlon |url=http://www.nysun.com/opinion/usna-mom-and-senator/28532/ |title=USNA Mom - and Senator? - The New York Sun |website=Nysun.com |date=2006-03-03 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> During the next two decades, McFarland says she "taught Sunday school, served as a class mother, directed school plays, headed a preschool library, and sang in the church choir."<ref name =mag/> She and her husband joined a number of exclusive New York clubs and country clubs.<ref name =mag/> Her youngest daughter attended the [[United States Naval Academy]].<ref name=mercy>{{cite web|author= John P. Avlon |url=http://www.nysun.com/opinion/usna-mom-and-senator/28532/ |title=USNA Mom - and Senator? - The New York Sun |publisher=Nysun.com |date=2006-03-03 |accessdate=2017-09-27}}</ref> McFarland had two brothers, Tom and Michael. Michael died of an AIDS-related illness on June 8, 1995. Prior to his death, McFarland outed her brother as gay to her parents, blaming his homosexuality on family abuse and cutting off contact with her parents. In 2006, her surviving brother Tom Troia, in defense of their father, told the ''[[New York Post]]'', "If I had one word to describe my sister, it would be 'evil'". McFarland has since reconciled with her parents.<ref>Johnson, Chris, [http://www.washingtonblade.com/2016/11/28/trump-natl-security-team-outed-gay-brother-dying-aids/ "Trump's nat'l security pick outed gay brother dying of AIDS"], ''[[Washington Blade]]'', November 28, 2016. Linked and cited in article: Phoebe Eaton, [http://nymag.com/guides/summer/17407/index2.html "Grand Old Class War"], ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'', July 3, 2007 (''sic''; 2006); Patrick Healy, [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/nyregion/25kt.html "Candidate for Senate Says Father Abused Her"], ''New York Times'', June 25, 2006; and Kenneth Lovett, [http://nypost.com/2006/07/13/kt-brother-evil-sis-lied-on-dad-abuse/ "KT brother: Evil sis lied on 'Dad Abuse'"], ''[[New York Post]]'', July 13, 2006. Retrieved December 5, 2016.</ref> [[File:CoFR edit-a-thon 2016-03 KT McFarland and Jeremy B jeh.jpg|thumb|250px|McFarland assisting at a 2016 edit-a-thon at the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] regarding women in foreign policy]] In 2000, McFarland started doing some work for the [[Foreign Policy Association]], booking speakers for ladies' lunches.<ref name=mag/> She is also a life member of the [[Council on Foreign Relations]].<ref name=":0"/> ==2006 Senate campaign== {{Main article|United States Senate election in New York, 2006}} In 2006, McFarland ran in the Republican primary in the [[United States Senate election in New York, 2006|United States Senate election in New York]] for a seat then held by Democrat [[Hillary Rodham Clinton]].<ref name=real>{{cite news|title=The real story of Kathleen McFarland is much better than the new scandal|url=http://www.showbiz411.com/2012/12/05/the-real-story-of-kathleen-mcfarland-is-much-better-than-the-new-scandal}}</ref> She was a late entrant - not forming an [[exploratory committee]] until March 2006<ref>{{cite news|author=Patrick Healy |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DE5D71531F934A35750C0A9609C8B63 |title=Metro Briefing - New York - Potential Opponent For Clinton - NYTimes.com |location=New York State |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=2006-03-07 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> - who was recruited once the leading Republican, Westchester district attorney [[Jeanine Pirro]], saw her candidacy implode.<ref name=healy/><ref name="nbc090506"/> McFarland had considered a congressional race to challenge Democratic incumbent [[Carolyn Maloney]] of Manhattan, but demurred on the grounds of unlikelihood of success.<ref name = healy/> Nonetheless she wanted to make a point by running as a Republican in New York, saying: "I spent 20 years of my life fighting against single party rule. It was called the Soviet Union and Communism then. But we are now allowing our system in the United States to have single party rule in many states. I am worried that we are dividing into 'Blue States' where the Republicans don't run and 'Red States' where Democrats don't run. That's counter to the whole concept of the United States as a place for competitive debates and competitive elections."<ref name=mercy/> In the Republican nomination race for Senate, McFarland described herself both as a "moderate Republican" and a "Reagan Republican".<ref name=healy/> She was [[pro-choice]].<ref name="nbc090506">{{cite news | url=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14627661/ | title=GOP unable to stop Hillary in 2006 | author=Murray, Mark | publisher=[[NBC News]] | date=2006-09-05}}</ref> She ran into trouble with a March 2006 comment that appeared to allege that the Clinton campaign had been flying helicopters low over her [[Southampton (town), New York|Southampton, New York]] house and spying on her, or that Clinton forces had rented an apartment across from her $18 million duplex on [[Park Avenue]]; she later said she had been joking, but the episodes upset her.<ref name="nbc090506"/><ref>{{cite web|author=Max Abelson |url=http://observer.com/2007/03/buyer-spies-kt-mcfarlands-770-park-duplex/ |title=Buyer Spies K.T. McFarland’s 770 Park Duplex |publisher=Observer |date=2007-03-26 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> In May, McFarland's campaign manager, longtime professional [[Ed Rollins]], made a variety of coarse personal life charges against her opponent [[John Spencer (politician)|John Spencer]], to which Spencer responded, "Shame on you."<ref name="nbc090506"/><ref name = mag/> All in all, the contest between Spencer and McFarland started ugly and got uglier.<ref>{{cite web|author=Patrick Healy |url=https://mobile.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/nyregion/embattled-gop-candidate-is-endorsed-by-buffalo-leader.html?referer= |title=Embattled G.O.P. Candidate Is Endorsed by Buffalo Leader |website=Mobile.nytimes.com |date=2006-04-08 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Jennifer Medina |url=https://mobile.nytimes.com/2006/05/04/nyregion/04kt.html?referer= |title=An Ugly Turn in the Race to Oppose Mrs. Clinton |website=Mobile.nytimes.com |date=2006-05-04 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author1=Michael Cooper |author2=Patrick Healy |url=https://mobile.nytimes.com/2006/05/11/nyregion/11senate.html?referer= |title=As Clinton Waits in Wings, G.O.P. Race Turns Personal |website=Mobile.nytimes.com |date=2006-05-11 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> McFarland's candidacy was plagued by media and other allegations that she overstated her credentials.<ref name=Atlantic /><ref name=mag/> ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that McFarland's claim that she had written part of [[Ronald Reagan|Ronald Reagan's]] [[Star Wars speech|"Star Wars" speech]] was false and had actually been written by Reagan's "top national security advisers," which did not include McFarland.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|last1=Hernandez|first1=Raymond|title=Questions Arise About Résumé of Challenger to Clinton|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/nyregion/questions-arise-about-resume-of-challenger-to-clinton.html|work=The New York Times|date=March 23, 2006}}</ref> Regarding her being the highest ranking woman of her time at the Reagan Pentagon, the newspaper reported that this was also false and that two women at the Pentagon at the time held higher ranks.<ref name="NYT"/> Also at issue was her claim that she had been the first female professional staff member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which she had not been.<ref name="NYT"/> Finally, the Spencer campaign objected to her assertion that she had held a civilian rank equivalent to that of a [[Lieutenant general|three-star general]].<ref name="NYT"/> Her inconsistent record of voting in prior New York state elections also became an issue, with her having missed 6 of the last 14 votes.<ref name=post-3>{{cite news|last=Dicker |first=Fredric U. |url=http://nypost.com/2006/03/15/hill-foe-registers-often-votes-rarely/ |title=Hill Foe Registers Often, Votes Rarely |newspaper=[[New York Post]] |date=2006-03-15 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> To this charge she responded at the time that she had no excuses,<ref name=no>{{cite news|author=Patrick Healy |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E2D81131F935A25750C0A9609C8B63 |title=Metro Briefing - New York - Manhattan - Clinton Rival Admits Problems - NYTimes.com |location=New York State |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=2006-03-16 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> and later conceded, "The realities of family life took precedence."<ref name=mag/> She maintained voting addresses in two different places at the same time, Manhattan and Southampton, sometimes voting in one place and sometimes in the other, which was a possible felony under state law.<ref name=post-3/> In response, her lawyer conceded that what she did was in violation of election law but said: "[there was no criminal intent, no venality here ... This is a case of the boards of elections not doing their jobs ... She should have been turned away."<ref name=post-3/> She emphasized that she had never voted twice in any given election and said she would cancel the Southampton registration.<ref name=no /> Troubled by these disclosures, as well as issues in her personal life, by late June her campaign was just about out of money.<ref name=100k>{{cite web|author=Patrick Healy |url=https://mobile.nytimes.com/2006/06/29/nyregion/29kt.html?referer= |title=Senate Candidate Loans $100,000 to Her Campaign |website=Mobile.nytimes.com |date=2006-06-29 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> She then loaned her campaign $100,000 of her own money.<ref name=100k/> On August 22, McFarland announced that she would be suspending her campaign until further notice after her daughter was caught shoplifting in Southampton.<ref>{{cite news | first= | last= | pages= | title=KT McFarland Suspends Senate Campaign After Daughter's Arrest | date= August 22, 2006 | publisher=[[NY1]] | url=http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=61980}}</ref><ref name=real/> In the September 12 primary, McFarland was defeated by Spencer 61 percent to 39 percent, amidst historically low turnout.<ref name="nd091706">{{cite news |title=GOP Primary Turnout Was Lowest In More Than 30 Years|publisher=[[Newsday]] |url=http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--newyorkprimary-tu0917sep17,0,1396023.story |date=2006-09-17}}</ref> Spencer then went on to lose 31 percent to Clinton's 67 percent in the November general election. Despite what happened, Rollins later praised McFarland: "She had a good fundraising effort and was a tireless candidate."<ref name=Atlantic/> ==Commentator== [[File:Kathleen Troia McFarland with ISAF Lt Gen J.B Dutton.jpg|thumb|250px|McFarland talking to British General [[James Dutton (Royal Marines officer)|James Dutton]] in 2009 in Afghanistan]] Beginning in 2010, McFarland appeared on air as a [[Fox News Channel]] pundit on matters of national security. On the channel she had a regular presence.<ref name=Atlantic /> She also sometimes appeared on the [[Fox Business Network]].<ref name=acuward/> She wrote a weekly column for Fox Forum on [[FoxNews.com]].<ref name=liberty >{{cite web|url=http://faithandliberty.org/content/kt-mcfarland |title=K.T. McFarland | Faith and Liberty Talk Show |website=Faithandliberty.org |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> There she additionally hosted an online talk show known as ''Defcon 3''.<ref name=polsup/> She also appeared on a regular basis on radio for [[Fox News Radio]], [[ABC Radio (United States)|ABC Radio]], [[WMAL (AM)|WMAL]], and [[WVOX]].<ref name=liberty/> In this role, McFarland was highly critical of [[President Obama]]'s approach to combating terrorism, saying he failed to acknowledge the threat that global Islamism poses to Western civilization.<ref name=team>{{Cite journal | authors = Peters, Jeremy W. & Haberman, Maggie | date=November 25, 2016 | title=Donald Trump to Add K.T. McFarland to His National Security Team| journal = The [[New York Times]] | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/us/politics/donald-trump-kt-mcfarland.html | access-date=November 25, 2016}}</ref> For instance, she said that "global Islamist jihad is at war with all of Western Civilization."<ref name=acuward/> After a terrorist incident she also criticized his method of relaxation, saying "To me, it’s a dereliction of duty. What was this president doing? Well, he was playing a lot of golf this summer, but he clearly was not attending to the defense of the United States."<ref name=team/> [[File:US Navy 110527-N-5698C-280 Fox News reporter Kathleen T. McFarland interviews Battle of Iwo Jima veteran Lou Dipaolo on the flight deck of the mult.jpg|thumb|left|250px|McFarland interviews World War II veteran Lou DiPaolo on the deck of the [[USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7)|USS ''Iwo Jima'']] in New York in 2011]] Regarding the [[United States diplomatic cables leak]], McFarland called [[Julian Assange]] a terrorist, [[Wikileaks]] "a terrorist organization", and called for [[Bradley Manning]]'s execution if he was found guilty of making the leaks.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/11/30/yes-wikileaks-terrorist-organization-time-act/ | author = [[Kathleen Troia McFarland|McFarland, K.T.]]| title=Yes, WikiLeaks Is a Terrorist Organization and the Time To Act Is Now| publisher=[[Fox News]]| date=30 November 2010|accessdate=12 January 2011}}</ref> As a commentator, McFarland often expressed doubts about [[globalism]] and the value of U.S. interventions abroad.<ref name=polsup/> Regarding the [[2011 military intervention in Libya]], she characterized it as "insane".<ref name=polsup/> In 2016, she applauded the [[Brexit]] vote in approval of [[withdrawal from the European Union]].<ref name=polsup/> In 2013, McFarland wrote that [[Vladimir Putin]] deserved a [[Nobel Peace Prize]] for his actions during the [[Syrian Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/09/10/putin-is-one-who-really-deserves-that-nobel-peace-prize.html |title=Putin is the one who really deserves that Nobel Peace Prize |publisher=[[Fox News]] |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> In 2014, following the [[annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation]], she tweeted, "Putin seizes countries, Obama threatens maybe to kick Russia out of the G-8 club. Bet Putin's sorry now! Winners write history, not whiners."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mediamatters.org/people/kt-mcfarland |title=K.T. McFarland | Media Matters for America |website=Mediamatters.org |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> She said the U.S. might be able to find "common ground" with Putin.<ref name =polsup/> In 2014, she said "I'm thankful to be a woman living in a time of consequence, as part of that first generation of women – probably in world history – who could be anything they wanted to be."<ref name =foxfem/> McFarland was a board member of [[The Jamestown Foundation]] from June 2008 until her appointment as Deputy National Security Advisor.<ref name=":0" /> She also served as a distinguished advisor to the [[Foundation for Defense of Democracies]].<ref name=":0"/> She is a senior fellow at the [[American Conservative Union]].<ref name=acu/> ==Trump administration== ===Deputy National Security Advisor=== On November 25, 2016, it was reported that McFarland was selected as President-elect [[Donald Trump]]'s [[Deputy National Security Advisor]], a position that does not require Senate confirmation.<ref>{{Cite journal | authors = Markon, Jerry; Tumulty, Karen Tumulty & Demirjian, Karoun | date = November 25, 2016 | title=Trump Fills White House Counsel and Deputy National Security Posts | journal = The [[Washington Post]] | language=en-US | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-fills-white-house-counsel-and-deputy-national-security-posts/2016/11/25/c4dee8d2-b341-11e6-be1c-8cec35b1ad25_story.html | access-date= 25 November 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | authors = Jacobs, Jennifer & Olorunnipa, Toluse | date=November 25, 2016|title=Trump Said to Name McFarland as Deputy National Security Adviser| journal =Bloomberg.com | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-11-25/trump-said-to-name-mcfarland-as-deputy-national-security-adviser | access-date=November 25, 2016}}</ref> McFarland had no existing relationship with the new chief executive, but knew his two older sons from their appearances on Fox News, while he liked her appearances on that channel.<ref name=polsup/> Upon taking office, this represented McFarland's first holding of any government position in over 30 years.<ref name=Atlantic/> It was a surprising selection in that she had been out of government for three decades and had little experience with the kind of intense extra-hours position it is, or the personnel and crisis management tasks that invariably come with it.<ref name=polsup/> However, her former boss Henry Kissinger praised the selection.<ref name=polsup/> Retired general [[Michael T. Flynn]], who initially served as President Trump's [[national security adviser]], did have ties to McFarland.<ref name=wfb/> Flynn thusly tweeted a welcome to McFarland.<ref name=Fox/> Former Senator [[Joe Lieberman]] declared that McFarland was "one of our country’s most experienced, informed and wise foreign policy and national security experts."<ref name=team/> McFarland herself said: "The American people chose Donald J. Trump to lead them for a reason. He has the courage, brilliance and energy to Make America Great Again, and nobody has called foreign policy right more than President-elect Trump, and he gets no credit for it. I’m honored and humbled that he has asked me to be part of his team."<ref name=Fox/> From the beginning, McFarland's style annoyed some of the more non-political staffers on the NSC.<ref name=grate>{{cite web|author=Charlie Savage |url=https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/04/09/us/politics/mcfarland-deputy-national-security-adviser-expected-to-leave-post.html?_r=0&referer=https://www.bing.com/search?q=mcfarland+style+had+grated.&form=APIPH1&PC=APPL |title=K.T. McFarland, Deputy National Security Adviser, Is Expected to Leave Post |website=Mobile.nytimes.com |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> She repeated the "[[Make America Great Again]]" mantra to career employees and mentioned that she was wearing shoes from the [[Ivanka Trump]] apparel line,<ref name=grate/> giving the other NSC staffers the impression she was too political.<ref name=promo >http://www.businessinsider.com/kt-mcfarland-new-job-national-security-council-2017-5</ref > On February 14, 2017, Flynn announced his resignation after he became embroiled in controversy regarding discussions he had with Russian officials before his appointment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/319383-flynn-deputy-k-t-mcfarland-expected-to-leave-role-report |title=Flynn deputy K.T. McFarland expected to leave role: report |publisher=TheHill |date=2017-02-13 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> A report quoted McFarland as intending to stay on, at the request of President Trump.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/319455-flynn-deputy-kt-mcfarland-to-remain-in-role |title=Flynn deputies y K.T. McFarland to remain in role |publisher=TheHill |date=2017-02-13 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> Further reports indicated that a requirement for any replacement in the position was that McFarland be kept on as that person's number two, and that this requirement was a disincentive in terms of how some potential picks viewed the offer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-harward-turns-down-national-security-adviser-job/ |title=Vice Admiral Robert Harward declines Trump NSA Director offer |publisher=[[CBS News]] |date=2017-02-16 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> [[H. R. McMaster]] was eventually named as Flynn's replacement.<ref name=poldp/> In mid-March 2017, [[Dina Habib Powell]] was named as another Deputy National Security Advisor, with an emphasis on strategy.<ref name=hindu >{{cite web|url=http://m.hindustantimes.com/world-news/egyptian-american-dina-powell-named-deputy-us-national-security-advisor/story-HiTrE5APzGQmnY8adesuUP.html |title=Egyptian-American Dina Powell named deputy US national security advisor |website=M.hindustantimes.com |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> According to a report in ''[[Politico]]'', "A source with knowledge of the situation said that the move was designed to effectively push out McFarland by putting another person in her role. While morale is higher in the NSC with McMaster, McFarland has been seen as a weak deputy internally, according to an NSC source."<ref name =poldp>{{cite web|last=Shafer |first=Jack |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/dina-powell-national-security-236110 |title=Dina Powell to be named Trump’s deputy national security adviser |publisher=Politico |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> The increasing problems surrounding Flynn also made McFarland vulnerable due to the ties between the two.<ref name=wfb/> McFarland has been held out as a role model for women in cybersecurity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.securitymagazine.com/blogs/14-security-blog/post/88135-no-more-hoodies-why-we-need-to-attract-more-women-to-cyber |title=No More Hoodies: Why We Need to Attract More Women to Cyber | 2017-07-06 |publisher=Security Magazine |date= |accessdate=2017-09-27}}</ref> On April 9, 2017. it was reported that McFarland had been asked to step down from her position as Deputy National Security Advisor, after serving for less than three months, and had been offered a position as the [[United States Ambassador to Singapore]].<ref name=hilldown>{{Cite news|url=http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/328009-deputy-national-security-adviser-kt-mcfarland-asked-to-step-down|title=Deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland ousted: report|last=Firozi|first=Paulina|date=2017-04-09|work=TheHill|access-date=2017-04-09}}</ref> The move came about as the result of the desires of both McMaster and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary [[John F. Kelly]].<ref name =bloomdown/> According to an unnamed administration official, McFarland had proved to not be a good fit for her role.<ref name=bloomdown>{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-09/mcfarland-to-exit-white-house-as-mcmaster-consolidates-power |title=McFarland to Exit White House as McMaster Consolidates Power |publisher=Bloomberg |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> McFarland said she viewed the move in a positive light, as a "promotion".<ref name=promo/> A White House official encouraged such an interpretation, saying it was a "promotion" to a "critical diplomatic outpost."<ref name=wfb/> She would remain as Deputy National Security Advisor for some amount of time,<ref name=hilldown/> although probably not all the way until her planned ambassadorial confirmation.<ref>{{cite news|last=Merica |first=Dan |url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/09/politics/mcfarland-singapore/index.html |title=K.T. McFarland to leave NSC for Singapore ambassadorship |website=Cnn.com |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> McFarland was hardly alone, as an unusually large number of higher-level appointees failed to maintain position during the initial months of the administration's existence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://m.timesofindia.com/world/us/donald-trump-fires-fbi-director-james-comey/articleshow/58614258.cms|title=Not doing a good job: Donald Trump fires FBI chief - Times of India|publisher=}}</ref><ref>https://www.afp.com/en/news/23/casualties-mount-trumps-first-eight-months</ref> The shuffle was supposed to take place in a fortnight, but that intention did not work out,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/24/mcfarland-national-security-237546|title=No replacement yet for McFarland|publisher=}}</ref> and after a month went by the shift had still not happened, reportedly pending McMaster's selection of a replacement for McFarland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/mcfarland-waiting-out-her-replacement-at-national-security-council/article/2007886|title=McFarland Waiting Out Her Replacement at National Security Council|date=May 3, 2017|publisher=}}</ref> McFarland continued to perform some duties during this time, such as meeting with the [[Prime Minister of Australia]].<ref name =eli >{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-05-08/washington-loves-general-mcmaster-but-trump-doesn-t|title=Washington Loves General McMaster. Trump Doesn't.|date=May 8, 2017|publisher=|via=www.bloomberg.com}}</ref> By at least one early-mid May report, the timing of her departure was less certain than ever.<ref name=eli/> According to another report, McFarland was still in favor with the chief executive, who did not understand why her departure was necessary.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/09/the-knives-are-out-for-hr-mcmaster-trump-bannon-nsc/|title=The Knives Are Out for Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster|publisher=}}</ref> Her activities during this period included slipping the chief executive an identified Internet hoax about the mainstream media's supposed hypocrisy concerning climate change in respect to the [[global cooling|1970s global cooling conjecture]] and purporting it as reality.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/aliciamelvillesmith/trump-time-hoax-cover|title=This Fake Magazine Cover Made It Onto President Trump's Desk}}</ref> ===Nominee as Ambassador to Singapore=== It was reported that [[Ricky L. Waddell]] would be her successor as Deputy National Security Advisor; like many of the administrations's other national security appointments, he is a general of the military.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/10/ricky-waddell-deputy-national-security-adviser-238207|title=Ricky Waddell named White House deputy national security adviser}}</ref> On May 19, 2017, the nomination of McFarland to be Ambassador to Singapore was officially announced.<ref>{{cite web | last1=Greenwood | first1=Max | title=Trump Nominates KT McFarland for Singapore Ambassador | url=http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/334331-trump-nominates-mcfarland-for-singapore-ambassador | date=May 19, 2017 | publisher=''[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]'' | accessdate=May 19, 2017}}</ref> On June 15, 2017, McFarland was formally nominated by the White House.<ref name=wfb>{{cite web|author=Charles Fain Lehman |url=http://freebeacon.com/politics/mcfarland-formally-nominated-as-ambassador-to-singapore/amp/ |title=K.T. McFarland Formally Nominated As Ambassador to Singapore |publisher=Freebeacon.com |date= |accessdate=2017-09-27}}</ref> Her confirmation hearing before the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] took place on July 20, 2017.<ref name =sing>http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-s-value-to-the-united-states-lies-in-its-location-us-9049860</ref > During her confirmation hearing, she said the importance of Singapore could be encapsulated by the real estate maxim "location, location, location."<ref name=sing/> McFarland also stated that she believed [[Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections|Russia had interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections]].<ref>[http://kxan.com/2017/07/20/kay-bailey-hutchison-responds-to-russia-questions/ "Kay Bailey Hutchison responds to Russia questions at confirmation hearing"] KXAN NBC affiliate July 20 2017.</ref> On September 19, McFarland's confirmation was approved by the Committee and was sent on to the full Senate. The Republicans on the Committee supported the nomination, while panel Democrats were of the split persuasion.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lanktree |first=Graham |url=http://www.newsweek.com/michael-flynn-still-influencing-trump-administration-k-t-mcfarland-667694?amp=1 |title=Michael Flynn's Influence on Trump Administration Still Visible in Ambassador Confirmation |publisher=Newsweek.com |date=2017-09-19 |accessdate=2017-09-27}}</ref> McFarland's nomination has not yet been scheduled for a vote in the full Senate, a delay that by the end of November envoked frustration from a McFarland supporter from the [[American Conservative Union]].<ref >http://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/362437-kt-mcfarland-will-be-key-to-north-korea-crisis-if-the-senate-ever?amp</ref> The [[2017 Special Counsel investigation]] reportedly named McFarland on the first day of December as one of the people involved with Flynn and presidential in-law [[Jared Kushner]] in developments leading up to Flynn pleading guilty to lying to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]].<ref>http://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/wireStory/latest-trump-adviser-flynn-arrives-guilty-plea-51512726</ref> In particular it was reportedly Kushner and McFarland who instructed Flynn regarding what he would say to Russian contacts regarding U S. Sanctions against that country.<ref>https://www.cbsnews.com/videos/jared-kushner-and-kt-mcfarland-told-flynn-to-talk-to-russia/</ref> ==Awards and honors== In 1985, McFarland received the Defense Department's highest civilian honor, the [[Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://jamestown.org/press-releases/jamestown-board-member-kt-mcfarland-named-next-deputy-national-security-advisor/|title=Jamestown Board Member KT McFarland Named Next Deputy National Security Advisor - Jamestown|newspaper=Jamestown|access-date=2017-02-17|language=en-US}} Press release bio. </ref> In 2015, the [[Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute]] gave McFarland its Woman of the Year award, in an announcement made at [[Conservative Political Action Conference|CPAC]].<ref name =acuward/> In November 2016, the [[American Conservative Union]] selected McFarland as its Conservative in the Spotlight, with ACU chair [[Matt Schlapp]] saying, "KT is not only a brilliant strategist with a wealth of global affairs knowledge, but she is also an expert communicator who knows how to effectively deliver clear and concise messages to grassroots activists."<ref name=acuward>{{cite web|url=http://conservative.org/kt-mcfarland-named-acu-conservative-spotlight/ |title=American Conservative Union | KT McFarland Named ACU “Conservative in the Spotlight” |website=Conservative.org |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> ==References== {{Reflist|30em}} ==External links== {{Commons category|Kathleen Troia McFarland}} *[https://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc NSC page] *[https://www.congress.gov/nomination/115th-congress/605/actions?r=430&overview=closed Ambassadorial nomination progress in Congress] *{{C-SPAN|kathleenmcfarland}} *[http://www.jamestown.org/details/?tx_bzdstaffdirectory_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=45&tx_bzdstaffdirectory_pi1%5BbackPid%5D=46&cHash=a6c6002c040f3d77ba427345f9661bdc Kathleen Troia “KT” McFarland] -Jamestown Foundation *[http://m.imdb.com/name/nm2881394/filmotype?ref_=m_nmfmd_slf_flm IMDB entry] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20161009093623/http://ktmcfarland.com/ Website - archived as of October 2016] *[http://faithandliberty.org/content/kt-mcfarland-and-general-jerry-boykin-national-security-and-islamic-terrorism On National Security and Islamic Terrorism] - with Gen. Jerry Boykin {{s-start}} {{s-dip}} {{s-bef|before=Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath {{small|Acting}}}} {{s-ttl|title=[[United States Ambassador to Singapore]] {{small|Nominee}}|years=Taking office TBD}} {{s-inc}} {{s-end}} {{Trump Executive Office}} {{US Ambassadors to Singapore}} {{DEFAULTSORT:McFarland, Kathleen Troia}} [[Category:1951 births]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford]] [[Category:American people of Sicilian descent]] [[Category:American speechwriters]] [[Category:American women civil servants]] [[Category:Candidates in United States elections, 2006]] [[Category:Commentators]] [[Category:Ford administration personnel]] [[Category:Fox News people]] [[Category:George Washington University alumni]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:New York (state) Republicans]] [[Category:People from Madison, Wisconsin]] [[Category:People from Manhattan]] [[Category:People from Southampton (town), New York]] [[Category:Nixon administration personnel]] [[Category:Reagan administration personnel]] [[Category:Trump administration personnel]] [[Category:United States Department of Defense officials]] [[Category:United States National Security Council staffers]] [[Category:Women in New York (state) politics]]'

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'{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = K. T. McFarland |image = KT McFarland by Gage Skidmore.jpg |office = [[United States Ambassador to Singapore]] {{small|Nominee}} |president = [[Donald Trump]] |term_start = TBD* |term_end = |succeeding = Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath {{small|(Acting)}} |predecessor = Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath {{small|(Acting)}} |successor = |office1 = [[Deputy National Security Advisor (United States)|Deputy National Security Advisor]] |president1 = [[Donald Trump]] |term_start1 = January 20, 2017 |term_end1 = {{circa}}May 19, 2017 |alongside1 = [[Dina Powell]] |predecessor1 = [[Avril Haines]] |successor1 = [[Ricky L. Waddell]] |birth_name = Kathleen Troia |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|7|22}} |birth_place = [[Madison, Wisconsin]], [[United States|U.S.]] |death_date = |death_place = |party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] |spouse = Alan McFarland |children = 3 2 stepchildren |education = [[George Washington University]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])}} [[University of Oxford]] {{small|([[Master of Arts|MA]])}} [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] |footnotes = {{small|*Pending Senate confirmation}} }} '''Kathleen Troia McFarland''' (born July 22, 1951) is an American government official and commentator who is the nominee to become the next [[United States Ambassador to Singapore]]. McFarland served as [[Deputy National Security Advisor]] to President [[Donald Trump]] during the first months of 2017.<ref>{{cite news|title=President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Kathleen Troia (“K.T.”) McFarland to be the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Singapore|url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/19/president-donald-j-trump-announces-intent-nominate-kathleen-troia-kt|accessdate=15 June 2017|publisher=The White House|date=May 19, 2017}}</ref> McFarland formerly served as a staff member on the [[U.S. National Security Council]] in the 1970s and a staff member at the [[United States Department of Defense|Defense Department]] in the 1980s. McFarland ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Party nomination in the [[United States Senate election in New York, 2006]], then was a [[Fox News]] national security analyst and a contributor to its website opinion page in the 2010s. ==Early life== McFarland was born '''Kathleen Troia''' on July 22, 1951, in [[Madison, Wisconsin]]. Her father was a train dispatcher for the [[Chicago and Northwestern Railroad]].<ref name= announced >{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/28/style/kathleen-troia-defense-aide-to-wed.html |title=Kathleen Troia, Defense Aide, to Wed |website=NYTimes.com |date=1984-10-28 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> The oldest of four siblings,<ref name=mag/> she grew up in Madison.<ref name =sun/> She would later say that watching Disney heroines overcome great obstacles inspired her towards believing that women could achieve whatever they wanted.<ref name=foxfem/> Troia attended [[Madison West High School]], graduating in 1969.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://madisonwestalumni.ning.com/m/profile?screenName=0sjjsb719en76 |title=Kathleen Troia McFarland's Page – Madison West High Alumni |website=Madisonwestalumni.ning.com |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> ==Education and early government positions== McFarland (known then as Troia) studied at [[George Washington University]] in Washington, D.C.<ref name=post/> and worked part-time at the [[White House]] during the [[Nixon administration]] assigned to the night-time typing pool for [[Henry Kissinger]]'s [[U.S. National Security Council]] staff.<ref name=mag/> This led to her typing the [[President's Daily Brief]].<ref name=USNA>{{cite web|url=https://www.usna.edu/LeadershipConference/Archive/2010/panelist-mcfarland.php |title=Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland :: Leadership Conference :: USNA |website=Usna.edu |date=2017-01-19 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref><ref name=mag/> Intrigued by U.S. foreign policy and the [[1972 Nixon visit to China]], Troia majored in [[Chinese studies]]<ref name=mag/> and graduated from George Washington University.<ref name=mag>{{cite news|last1=Eaton|first1=Phoebe|title=Grand Old Class War|url=http://nymag.com/guides/summer/17407/index2.html|work=New York|date=July 3, 2007}}</ref><ref name=post>{{cite news|last1=Burke|first1=Cathy|title=Hill Foe 'KT' Out Her Dying Brother|url=http://nypost.com/2006/06/25/hill-foe-kt-outed-her-dying-brother/|work=New York Post|date=June 25, 2006}}</ref> [[File:Scowcroft, Georgetown University Undergraduates - October 29, 1974(Gerald Ford Library)(1552836).pdf|thumb|250px|Troia as note taker during October 1974 [[U.S. National Security Council|NSC]] event]] She continued to work in the White House during the [[Ford administration]] as a [[research assistant]]<ref name=polsup>{{cite web|last=Shafer |first=Jack |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/kt-mcfarland-deputy-national-security-advisor-232388 |title=Flynn deputy raises more doubts about Trump team |publisher=Politico |date=2015-06-30 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> and at times assisted or filled in for the NSC press liaison.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/guides/findingaid/nsapresscong.asp |title=Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum |website=Fordlibrarymuseum.gov |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref><ref name=Fox>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/11/25/trump-names-k-t-mcfarland-as-deputy-national-security-adviser.html "Trump names K.T. McFarland as deputy national security adviser"], ''Fox News'', November 25, 2016. Retrieved 2016-12-05.</ref> She is sometimes considered a Kissinger protégée.<ref name=healy> {{Cite news|first=Patrick |last=Healy |title=Clinton Challenger Pulled From Reagan-Era Hat |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/03/nyregion/03challenger.html |work=The New York Times |page=A1 |date=March 3, 2006 |accessdate=February 5, 2007}}</ref><ref name=mag/> After working in the Ford administration, with a desire to be "taken really seriously," Troia studied on scholarship at [[Oxford University]].<ref name=mag/><ref name=USNA/> There, she earned a combined bachelor's degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, and was later conferred an honorary master's as is convention in Oxford and Cambridge.<ref name=announced/> Troia went to the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] where she undertook concentrations in nuclear weapons, China, and the Soviet Union.<ref name=USNA/> She spent three years there in study toward PhD, ending up in the [[all but dissertation]] state.<ref name=":0"/><ref name=100k/> The title of her unfinished thesis was "The Sino-Soviet nuclear confrontation of 1969 from the point of view of the Herman Kahn stepladder period of escalation".<ref name=mag/> A second thesis attempt may have been entitled "The President's Strategic Defense Initiative".<ref name=wed/> She returned to Washington in 1981 following the election of [[Ronald Reagan]] as President and the new Republican majority in the U.S. Senate and became a member of the [[Senate Armed Services Committee]] staff, working for chair [[John Tower]].<ref name="NYT"/> There she worked on the preparation of committee briefings and [[talking point]]s.<ref name=mag/> In later years, McFarland commented on this time in the context of women forcing their way to greater opportunities.<ref name=foxfem >{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/11/24/national-security-expert-thankful-for-my-daughters-and-walt-disney.html |title=National Security expert: Thankful for my daughters and Walt Disney |publisher=[[Fox News]] |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> In particular, she recalled: "I'll never forget being at a Capitol Hill staff meeting in the early 1980s, after being at the top of my class at Oxford University and teaching nuclear weapons at MIT. One of the male staff members who was several years my junior, not as well qualified and not as productive, felt entitled enough to ask me to get him coffee. Later, when I asked my boss about it, he suggested I might want to throttle back on working so hard, because it was making the men on the staff feel threatened."<ref name=foxfem/> ==Reagan administration== Then, in the [[Reagan administration]], when she was known as Kathy Troia,<ref name =Atlantic >{{cite web|author=Siddhartha Mahanta|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/12/mcfarland-trump-reagan-weinberger-flynn-washington-fox/510323/|title=K.T. McFarland: A Reagan Veteran in Trumpworld|magazine=The Atlantic|date=December 12, 2016}}</ref> she served as the speechwriter for [[United States Secretary of Defense]] [[Caspar Weinberger]] beginning in March 1982.<ref name="NYT"/> In particular she worked on the Secretary's "[[Weinberger Doctrine|Six Tests for the Use of U.S. Military Power]]" speech, which is sometimes considered a forerunner of the [[Powell Doctrine]].<ref name=mercy/> Speechwriting was a significant activity in the Reagan administration because it forced a decision to be reached among battling factions, sometimes with the president intervening to settle a policy matter.<ref name=speech>{{cite news|last=Gelb |first=Leslie H. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/11/us/listening-between-the-lines.html |title=Listening Between The Lines |website=NYTimes.com |date=1985-02-11 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> Similar battles took place within the Pentagon, and she said that speeches were used to "short-circuit layers and layers of conflicting interests" in the defense bureaucracy.<ref name=speech/> She likened the particular process she and Weinberger used to the traditional negative response model of the [[Book of the Month Club]]: "We'd send out the speech draft with a note saying that if we haven't heard from you by a certain day, we'll assume you agree. The responses were quick and usually on the major issues."<ref name=speech/> In December 1983 she was promoted to Principal Deputy to Michael I. Birch, the [[Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs]].<ref name="NYT"/><ref name =Atlantic/> She later became the Pentagon spokesperson.<ref name=USNA/> She was reportedly under consideration for the Assistant Secretary job itself.<ref>{{cite web|last=Clarity |first=James F. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/05/us/briefing-014629.html |title=Briefing |location=Washington (Dc) |website=NYTimes.com |date=1983-07-05 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> She stayed in this position until around November 1984.<ref name="NYT"/> ==Marriage and family== Troia married Alan Roberts McFarland on January 12, 1985, at the [[National Cathedral]] in Washington.<ref name=wed>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/13/style/kathleen-troia-ex-defense-aide-is-wed-in-captial.html |title=Kathleen Troia, Ex-Defense Aide, Is Wed In Captial [sic] |website=NYTimes.com |date=1985-01-13 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> He was a general partner in [[Lazard Frères]]<ref name=announced/> who went on to become a well-known investment banker<ref name=team/> and a founder of McFarland, Dewey & Co.<ref name=acu >{{cite web|url=http://cpac.conservative.org/speakers/kt-mcfarland/ |title=Conservative Political Action Conference | KT McFarland |website=Cpac.conservative.org |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> Beginning in 1985, K. T. McFarland became a [[stay-at-home mother]].<ref name=healy/> The couple had three children together, along with two from his first marriage to whom she became stepmother.<ref name=polsup/><ref name=real/><ref name=sun>{{cite web|author=John P. Avlon |url=http://www.nysun.com/opinion/usna-mom-and-senator/28532/ |title=USNA Mom - and Senator? - The New York Sun |website=Nysun.com |date=2006-03-03 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> During the next two decades, McFarland says she "taught Sunday school, served as a class mother, directed school plays, headed a preschool library, and sang in the church choir."<ref name =mag/> She and her husband joined a number of exclusive New York clubs and country clubs.<ref name =mag/> Her youngest daughter attended the [[United States Naval Academy]].<ref name=mercy>{{cite web|author= John P. Avlon |url=http://www.nysun.com/opinion/usna-mom-and-senator/28532/ |title=USNA Mom - and Senator? - The New York Sun |publisher=Nysun.com |date=2006-03-03 |accessdate=2017-09-27}}</ref> McFarland had two brothers, Tom and Michael. Michael died of an AIDS-related illness on June 8, 1995. Prior to his death, McFarland outed her brother as gay to her parents, blaming his homosexuality on family abuse and cutting off contact with her parents. In 2006, her surviving brother Tom Troia, in defense of their father, told the ''[[New York Post]]'', "If I had one word to describe my sister, it would be 'evil'". McFarland has since reconciled with her parents.<ref>Johnson, Chris, [http://www.washingtonblade.com/2016/11/28/trump-natl-security-team-outed-gay-brother-dying-aids/ "Trump's nat'l security pick outed gay brother dying of AIDS"], ''[[Washington Blade]]'', November 28, 2016. Linked and cited in article: Phoebe Eaton, [http://nymag.com/guides/summer/17407/index2.html "Grand Old Class War"], ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'', July 3, 2007 (''sic''; 2006); Patrick Healy, [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/nyregion/25kt.html "Candidate for Senate Says Father Abused Her"], ''New York Times'', June 25, 2006; and Kenneth Lovett, [http://nypost.com/2006/07/13/kt-brother-evil-sis-lied-on-dad-abuse/ "KT brother: Evil sis lied on 'Dad Abuse'"], ''[[New York Post]]'', July 13, 2006. Retrieved December 5, 2016.</ref> [[File:CoFR edit-a-thon 2016-03 KT McFarland and Jeremy B jeh.jpg|thumb|250px|McFarland assisting at a 2016 edit-a-thon at the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] regarding women in foreign policy]] In 2000, McFarland started doing some work for the [[Foreign Policy Association]], booking speakers for ladies' lunches.<ref name=mag/> She is also a life member of the [[Council on Foreign Relations]].<ref name=":0"/> ==2006 Senate campaign== {{Main article|United States Senate election in New York, 2006}} In 2006, McFarland ran in the Republican primary in the [[United States Senate election in New York, 2006|United States Senate election in New York]] for a seat then held by Democrat [[Hillary Rodham Clinton]].<ref name=real>{{cite news|title=The real story of Kathleen McFarland is much better than the new scandal|url=http://www.showbiz411.com/2012/12/05/the-real-story-of-kathleen-mcfarland-is-much-better-than-the-new-scandal}}</ref> She was a late entrant - not forming an [[exploratory committee]] until March 2006<ref>{{cite news|author=Patrick Healy |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DE5D71531F934A35750C0A9609C8B63 |title=Metro Briefing - New York - Potential Opponent For Clinton - NYTimes.com |location=New York State |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=2006-03-07 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> - who was recruited once the leading Republican, Westchester district attorney [[Jeanine Pirro]], saw her candidacy implode.<ref name=healy/><ref name="nbc090506"/> McFarland had considered a congressional race to challenge Democratic incumbent [[Carolyn Maloney]] of Manhattan, but demurred on the grounds of unlikelihood of success.<ref name = healy/> Nonetheless she wanted to make a point by running as a Republican in New York, saying: "I spent 20 years of my life fighting against single party rule. It was called the Soviet Union and Communism then. But we are now allowing our system in the United States to have single party rule in many states. I am worried that we are dividing into 'Blue States' where the Republicans don't run and 'Red States' where Democrats don't run. That's counter to the whole concept of the United States as a place for competitive debates and competitive elections."<ref name=mercy/> In the Republican nomination race for Senate, McFarland described herself both as a "moderate Republican" and a "Reagan Republican".<ref name=healy/> She was [[pro-choice]].<ref name="nbc090506">{{cite news | url=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14627661/ | title=GOP unable to stop Hillary in 2006 | author=Murray, Mark | publisher=[[NBC News]] | date=2006-09-05}}</ref> She ran into trouble with a March 2006 comment that appeared to allege that the Clinton campaign had been flying helicopters low over her [[Southampton (town), New York|Southampton, New York]] house and spying on her, or that Clinton forces had rented an apartment across from her $18 million duplex on [[Park Avenue]]; she later said she had been joking, but the episodes upset her.<ref name="nbc090506"/><ref>{{cite web|author=Max Abelson |url=http://observer.com/2007/03/buyer-spies-kt-mcfarlands-770-park-duplex/ |title=Buyer Spies K.T. McFarland’s 770 Park Duplex |publisher=Observer |date=2007-03-26 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> In May, McFarland's campaign manager, longtime professional [[Ed Rollins]], made a variety of coarse personal life charges against her opponent [[John Spencer (politician)|John Spencer]], to which Spencer responded, "Shame on you."<ref name="nbc090506"/><ref name = mag/> All in all, the contest between Spencer and McFarland started ugly and got uglier.<ref>{{cite web|author=Patrick Healy |url=https://mobile.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/nyregion/embattled-gop-candidate-is-endorsed-by-buffalo-leader.html?referer= |title=Embattled G.O.P. Candidate Is Endorsed by Buffalo Leader |website=Mobile.nytimes.com |date=2006-04-08 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Jennifer Medina |url=https://mobile.nytimes.com/2006/05/04/nyregion/04kt.html?referer= |title=An Ugly Turn in the Race to Oppose Mrs. Clinton |website=Mobile.nytimes.com |date=2006-05-04 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author1=Michael Cooper |author2=Patrick Healy |url=https://mobile.nytimes.com/2006/05/11/nyregion/11senate.html?referer= |title=As Clinton Waits in Wings, G.O.P. Race Turns Personal |website=Mobile.nytimes.com |date=2006-05-11 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> McFarland's candidacy was plagued by media and other allegations that she overstated her credentials.<ref name=Atlantic /><ref name=mag/> ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that McFarland's claim that she had written part of [[Ronald Reagan|Ronald Reagan's]] [[Star Wars speech|"Star Wars" speech]] was false and had actually been written by Reagan's "top national security advisers," which did not include McFarland.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|last1=Hernandez|first1=Raymond|title=Questions Arise About Résumé of Challenger to Clinton|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/nyregion/questions-arise-about-resume-of-challenger-to-clinton.html|work=The New York Times|date=March 23, 2006}}</ref> Regarding her being the highest ranking woman of her time at the Reagan Pentagon, the newspaper reported that this was also false and that two women at the Pentagon at the time held higher ranks.<ref name="NYT"/> Also at issue was her claim that she had been the first female professional staff member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which she had not been.<ref name="NYT"/> Finally, the Spencer campaign objected to her assertion that she had held a civilian rank equivalent to that of a [[Lieutenant general|three-star general]].<ref name="NYT"/> Her inconsistent record of voting in prior New York state elections also became an issue, with her having missed 6 of the last 14 votes.<ref name=post-3>{{cite news|last=Dicker |first=Fredric U. |url=http://nypost.com/2006/03/15/hill-foe-registers-often-votes-rarely/ |title=Hill Foe Registers Often, Votes Rarely |newspaper=[[New York Post]] |date=2006-03-15 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> To this charge she responded at the time that she had no excuses,<ref name=no>{{cite news|author=Patrick Healy |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E2D81131F935A25750C0A9609C8B63 |title=Metro Briefing - New York - Manhattan - Clinton Rival Admits Problems - NYTimes.com |location=New York State |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=2006-03-16 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> and later conceded, "The realities of family life took precedence."<ref name=mag/> She maintained voting addresses in two different places at the same time, Manhattan and Southampton, sometimes voting in one place and sometimes in the other, which was a possible felony under state law.<ref name=post-3/> In response, her lawyer conceded that what she did was in violation of election law but said: "[there was no criminal intent, no venality here ... This is a case of the boards of elections not doing their jobs ... She should have been turned away."<ref name=post-3/> She emphasized that she had never voted twice in any given election and said she would cancel the Southampton registration.<ref name=no /> Troubled by these disclosures, as well as issues in her personal life, by late June her campaign was just about out of money.<ref name=100k>{{cite web|author=Patrick Healy |url=https://mobile.nytimes.com/2006/06/29/nyregion/29kt.html?referer= |title=Senate Candidate Loans $100,000 to Her Campaign |website=Mobile.nytimes.com |date=2006-06-29 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> She then loaned her campaign $100,000 of her own money.<ref name=100k/> On August 22, McFarland announced that she would be suspending her campaign until further notice after her daughter was caught shoplifting in Southampton.<ref>{{cite news | first= | last= | pages= | title=KT McFarland Suspends Senate Campaign After Daughter's Arrest | date= August 22, 2006 | publisher=[[NY1]] | url=http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=61980}}</ref><ref name=real/> In the September 12 primary, McFarland was defeated by Spencer 61 percent to 39 percent, amidst historically low turnout.<ref name="nd091706">{{cite news |title=GOP Primary Turnout Was Lowest In More Than 30 Years|publisher=[[Newsday]] |url=http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--newyorkprimary-tu0917sep17,0,1396023.story |date=2006-09-17}}</ref> Spencer then went on to lose 31 percent to Clinton's 67 percent in the November general election. Despite what happened, Rollins later praised McFarland: "She had a good fundraising effort and was a tireless candidate."<ref name=Atlantic/> ==Commentator== [[File:Kathleen Troia McFarland with ISAF Lt Gen J.B Dutton.jpg|thumb|250px|McFarland talking to British General [[James Dutton (Royal Marines officer)|James Dutton]] in 2009 in Afghanistan]] Beginning in 2010, McFarland appeared on air as a [[Fox News Channel]] pundit on matters of national security. On the channel she had a regular presence.<ref name=Atlantic /> She also sometimes appeared on the [[Fox Business Network]].<ref name=acuward/> She wrote a weekly column for Fox Forum on [[FoxNews.com]].<ref name=liberty >{{cite web|url=http://faithandliberty.org/content/kt-mcfarland |title=K.T. McFarland | Faith and Liberty Talk Show |website=Faithandliberty.org |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> There she additionally hosted an online talk show known as ''Defcon 3''.<ref name=polsup/> She also appeared on a regular basis on radio for [[Fox News Radio]], [[ABC Radio (United States)|ABC Radio]], [[WMAL (AM)|WMAL]], and [[WVOX]].<ref name=liberty/> In this role, McFarland was highly critical of [[President Obama]]'s approach to combating terrorism, saying he failed to acknowledge the threat that global Islamism poses to Western civilization.<ref name=team>{{Cite journal | authors = Peters, Jeremy W. & Haberman, Maggie | date=November 25, 2016 | title=Donald Trump to Add K.T. McFarland to His National Security Team| journal = The [[New York Times]] | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/us/politics/donald-trump-kt-mcfarland.html | access-date=November 25, 2016}}</ref> For instance, she said that "global Islamist jihad is at war with all of Western Civilization."<ref name=acuward/> After a terrorist incident she also criticized his method of relaxation, saying "To me, it’s a dereliction of duty. What was this president doing? Well, he was playing a lot of golf this summer, but he clearly was not attending to the defense of the United States."<ref name=team/> [[File:US Navy 110527-N-5698C-280 Fox News reporter Kathleen T. McFarland interviews Battle of Iwo Jima veteran Lou Dipaolo on the flight deck of the mult.jpg|thumb|left|250px|McFarland interviews World War II veteran Lou DiPaolo on the deck of the [[USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7)|USS ''Iwo Jima'']] in New York in 2011]] Regarding the [[United States diplomatic cables leak]], McFarland called [[Julian Assange]] a terrorist, [[Wikileaks]] "a terrorist organization", and called for [[Bradley Manning]]'s execution if he was found guilty of making the leaks.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/11/30/yes-wikileaks-terrorist-organization-time-act/ | author = [[Kathleen Troia McFarland|McFarland, K.T.]]| title=Yes, WikiLeaks Is a Terrorist Organization and the Time To Act Is Now| publisher=[[Fox News]]| date=30 November 2010|accessdate=12 January 2011}}</ref> As a commentator, McFarland often expressed doubts about [[globalism]] and the value of U.S. interventions abroad.<ref name=polsup/> Regarding the [[2011 military intervention in Libya]], she characterized it as "insane".<ref name=polsup/> In 2016, she applauded the [[Brexit]] vote in approval of [[withdrawal from the European Union]].<ref name=polsup/> In 2013, McFarland wrote that [[Vladimir Putin]] deserved a [[Nobel Peace Prize]] for his actions during the [[Syrian Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/09/10/putin-is-one-who-really-deserves-that-nobel-peace-prize.html |title=Putin is the one who really deserves that Nobel Peace Prize |publisher=[[Fox News]] |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> In 2014, following the [[annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation]], she tweeted, "Putin seizes countries, Obama threatens maybe to kick Russia out of the G-8 club. Bet Putin's sorry now! Winners write history, not whiners."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mediamatters.org/people/kt-mcfarland |title=K.T. McFarland | Media Matters for America |website=Mediamatters.org |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> She said the U.S. might be able to find "common ground" with Putin.<ref name =polsup/> In 2014, she said "I'm thankful to be a woman living in a time of consequence, as part of that first generation of women – probably in world history – who could be anything they wanted to be."<ref name =foxfem/> McFarland was a board member of [[The Jamestown Foundation]] from June 2008 until her appointment as Deputy National Security Advisor.<ref name=":0" /> She also served as a distinguished advisor to the [[Foundation for Defense of Democracies]].<ref name=":0"/> She is a senior fellow at the [[American Conservative Union]].<ref name=acu/> ==Trump administration== ===Deputy National Security Advisor=== On November 25, 2016, it was reported that McFarland was selected as President-elect [[Donald Trump]]'s [[Deputy National Security Advisor]], a position that does not require Senate confirmation.<ref>{{Cite journal | authors = Markon, Jerry; Tumulty, Karen Tumulty & Demirjian, Karoun | date = November 25, 2016 | title=Trump Fills White House Counsel and Deputy National Security Posts | journal = The [[Washington Post]] | language=en-US | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-fills-white-house-counsel-and-deputy-national-security-posts/2016/11/25/c4dee8d2-b341-11e6-be1c-8cec35b1ad25_story.html | access-date= 25 November 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | authors = Jacobs, Jennifer & Olorunnipa, Toluse | date=November 25, 2016|title=Trump Said to Name McFarland as Deputy National Security Adviser| journal =Bloomberg.com | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-11-25/trump-said-to-name-mcfarland-as-deputy-national-security-adviser | access-date=November 25, 2016}}</ref> McFarland had no existing relationship with the new chief executive, but knew his two older sons from their appearances on Fox News, while he liked her appearances on that channel.<ref name=polsup/> Upon taking office, this represented McFarland's first holding of any government position in over 30 years.<ref name=Atlantic/> It was a surprising selection in that she had been out of government for three decades and had little experience with the kind of intense extra-hours position it is, or the personnel and crisis management tasks that invariably come with it.<ref name=polsup/> However, her former boss Henry Kissinger praised the selection.<ref name=polsup/> Retired general [[Michael T. Flynn]], who initially served as President Trump's [[national security adviser]], did have ties to McFarland.<ref name=wfb/> Flynn thusly tweeted a welcome to McFarland.<ref name=Fox/> Former Senator [[Joe Lieberman]] declared that McFarland was "one of our country’s most experienced, informed and wise foreign policy and national security experts."<ref name=team/> McFarland herself said: "The American people chose Donald J. Trump to lead them for a reason. He has the courage, brilliance and energy to Make America Great Again, and nobody has called foreign policy right more than President-elect Trump, and he gets no credit for it. I’m honored and humbled that he has asked me to be part of his team."<ref name=Fox/> From the beginning, McFarland's style annoyed some of the more non-political staffers on the NSC.<ref name=grate>{{cite web|author=Charlie Savage |url=https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/04/09/us/politics/mcfarland-deputy-national-security-adviser-expected-to-leave-post.html?_r=0&referer=https://www.bing.com/search?q=mcfarland+style+had+grated.&form=APIPH1&PC=APPL |title=K.T. McFarland, Deputy National Security Adviser, Is Expected to Leave Post |website=Mobile.nytimes.com |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> She repeated the "[[Make America Great Again]]" mantra to career employees and mentioned that she was wearing shoes from the [[Ivanka Trump]] apparel line,<ref name=grate/> giving the other NSC staffers the impression she was too political.<ref name=promo >http://www.businessinsider.com/kt-mcfarland-new-job-national-security-council-2017-5</ref > On February 14, 2017, Flynn announced his resignation after he became embroiled in controversy regarding discussions he had with Russian officials before his appointment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/319383-flynn-deputy-k-t-mcfarland-expected-to-leave-role-report |title=Flynn deputy K.T. McFarland expected to leave role: report |publisher=TheHill |date=2017-02-13 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> A report quoted McFarland as intending to stay on, at the request of President Trump.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/319455-flynn-deputy-kt-mcfarland-to-remain-in-role |title=Flynn deputies y K.T. McFarland to remain in role |publisher=TheHill |date=2017-02-13 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> Further reports indicated that a requirement for any replacement in the position was that McFarland be kept on as that person's number two, and that this requirement was a disincentive in terms of how some potential picks viewed the offer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-harward-turns-down-national-security-adviser-job/ |title=Vice Admiral Robert Harward declines Trump NSA Director offer |publisher=[[CBS News]] |date=2017-02-16 |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> [[H. R. McMaster]] was eventually named as Flynn's replacement.<ref name=poldp/> In mid-March 2017, [[Dina Habib Powell]] was named as another Deputy National Security Advisor, with an emphasis on strategy.<ref name=hindu >{{cite web|url=http://m.hindustantimes.com/world-news/egyptian-american-dina-powell-named-deputy-us-national-security-advisor/story-HiTrE5APzGQmnY8adesuUP.html |title=Egyptian-American Dina Powell named deputy US national security advisor |website=M.hindustantimes.com |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> According to a report in ''[[Politico]]'', "A source with knowledge of the situation said that the move was designed to effectively push out McFarland by putting another person in her role. While morale is higher in the NSC with McMaster, McFarland has been seen as a weak deputy internally, according to an NSC source."<ref name =poldp>{{cite web|last=Shafer |first=Jack |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/dina-powell-national-security-236110 |title=Dina Powell to be named Trump’s deputy national security adviser |publisher=Politico |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> The increasing problems surrounding Flynn also made McFarland vulnerable due to the ties between the two.<ref name=wfb/> McFarland has been held out as a role model for women in cybersecurity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.securitymagazine.com/blogs/14-security-blog/post/88135-no-more-hoodies-why-we-need-to-attract-more-women-to-cyber |title=No More Hoodies: Why We Need to Attract More Women to Cyber | 2017-07-06 |publisher=Security Magazine |date= |accessdate=2017-09-27}}</ref> On April 9, 2017. it was reported that McFarland had been asked to step down from her position as Deputy National Security Advisor, after serving for less than three months, and had been offered a position as the [[United States Ambassador to Singapore]].<ref name=hilldown>{{Cite news|url=http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/328009-deputy-national-security-adviser-kt-mcfarland-asked-to-step-down|title=Deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland ousted: report|last=Firozi|first=Paulina|date=2017-04-09|work=TheHill|access-date=2017-04-09}}</ref> The move came about as the result of the desires of both McMaster and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary [[John F. Kelly]].<ref name =bloomdown/> According to an unnamed administration official, McFarland had proved to not be a good fit for her role.<ref name=bloomdown>{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-09/mcfarland-to-exit-white-house-as-mcmaster-consolidates-power |title=McFarland to Exit White House as McMaster Consolidates Power |publisher=Bloomberg |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> McFarland said she viewed the move in a positive light, as a "promotion".<ref name=promo/> A White House official encouraged such an interpretation, saying it was a "promotion" to a "critical diplomatic outpost."<ref name=wfb/> She would remain as Deputy National Security Advisor for some amount of time,<ref name=hilldown/> although probably not all the way until her planned ambassadorial confirmation.<ref>{{cite news|last=Merica |first=Dan |url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/09/politics/mcfarland-singapore/index.html |title=K.T. McFarland to leave NSC for Singapore ambassadorship |website=Cnn.com |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> McFarland was hardly alone, as an unusually large number of higher-level appointees failed to maintain position during the initial months of the administration's existence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://m.timesofindia.com/world/us/donald-trump-fires-fbi-director-james-comey/articleshow/58614258.cms|title=Not doing a good job: Donald Trump fires FBI chief - Times of India|publisher=}}</ref><ref>https://www.afp.com/en/news/23/casualties-mount-trumps-first-eight-months</ref> The shuffle was supposed to take place in a fortnight, but that intention did not work out,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/24/mcfarland-national-security-237546|title=No replacement yet for McFarland|publisher=}}</ref> and after a month went by the shift had still not happened, reportedly pending McMaster's selection of a replacement for McFarland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/mcfarland-waiting-out-her-replacement-at-national-security-council/article/2007886|title=McFarland Waiting Out Her Replacement at National Security Council|date=May 3, 2017|publisher=}}</ref> McFarland continued to perform some duties during this time, such as meeting with the [[Prime Minister of Australia]].<ref name =eli >{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-05-08/washington-loves-general-mcmaster-but-trump-doesn-t|title=Washington Loves General McMaster. Trump Doesn't.|date=May 8, 2017|publisher=|via=www.bloomberg.com}}</ref> By at least one early-mid May report, the timing of her departure was less certain than ever.<ref name=eli/> According to another report, McFarland was still in favor with the chief executive, who did not understand why her departure was necessary.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/09/the-knives-are-out-for-hr-mcmaster-trump-bannon-nsc/|title=The Knives Are Out for Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster|publisher=}}</ref> Her activities during this period included slipping the chief executive an identified Internet hoax about the mainstream media's supposed hypocrisy concerning climate change in respect to the [[global cooling|1970s global cooling conjecture]] and purporting it as reality.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/aliciamelvillesmith/trump-time-hoax-cover|title=This Fake Magazine Cover Made It Onto President Trump's Desk}}</ref> ===Nominee as Ambassador to Singapore=== It was reported that [[Ricky L. Waddell]] would be her successor as Deputy National Security Advisor; like many of the administrations's other national security appointments, he is a general of the military.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/10/ricky-waddell-deputy-national-security-adviser-238207|title=Ricky Waddell named White House deputy national security adviser}}</ref> On May 19, 2017, the nomination of McFarland to be Ambassador to Singapore was officially announced.<ref>{{cite web | last1=Greenwood | first1=Max | title=Trump Nominates KT McFarland for Singapore Ambassador | url=http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/334331-trump-nominates-mcfarland-for-singapore-ambassador | date=May 19, 2017 | publisher=''[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]'' | accessdate=May 19, 2017}}</ref> On June 15, 2017, McFarland was formally nominated by the White House.<ref name=wfb>{{cite web|author=Charles Fain Lehman |url=http://freebeacon.com/politics/mcfarland-formally-nominated-as-ambassador-to-singapore/amp/ |title=K.T. McFarland Formally Nominated As Ambassador to Singapore |publisher=Freebeacon.com |date= |accessdate=2017-09-27}}</ref> Her confirmation hearing before the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] took place on July 20, 2017.<ref name =sing>http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-s-value-to-the-united-states-lies-in-its-location-us-9049860</ref > During her confirmation hearing, she said the importance of Singapore could be encapsulated by the real estate maxim "location, location, location."<ref name=sing/> McFarland also stated that she believed [[Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections|Russia had interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections]].<ref>[http://kxan.com/2017/07/20/kay-bailey-hutchison-responds-to-russia-questions/ "Kay Bailey Hutchison responds to Russia questions at confirmation hearing"] KXAN NBC affiliate July 20 2017.</ref> On September 19, McFarland's confirmation was approved by the Committee and was sent on to the full Senate. The Republicans on the Committee supported the nomination, while panel Democrats were of the split persuasion.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lanktree |first=Graham |url=http://www.newsweek.com/michael-flynn-still-influencing-trump-administration-k-t-mcfarland-667694?amp=1 |title=Michael Flynn's Influence on Trump Administration Still Visible in Ambassador Confirmation |publisher=Newsweek.com |date=2017-09-19 |accessdate=2017-09-27}}</ref> McFarland's nomination has not yet been scheduled for a vote in the full Senate but it is expected to be withdrawn as she will soon be indicted by Robert Mueller. The [[2017 Special Counsel investigation]] reportedly named McFarland on the first day of December as one of the people involved with Flynn and presidential in-law [[Jared Kushner]] in developments leading up to Flynn pleading guilty to lying to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]].<ref>http://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/wireStory/latest-trump-adviser-flynn-arrives-guilty-plea-51512726</ref> In particular it was reportedly Kushner and McFarland who instructed Flynn regarding what he would say to Russian contacts regarding U S. Sanctions against that country.<ref>https://www.cbsnews.com/videos/jared-kushner-and-kt-mcfarland-told-flynn-to-talk-to-russia/</ref> ==Awards and honors== In 1985, McFarland received the Defense Department's highest civilian honor, the [[Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://jamestown.org/press-releases/jamestown-board-member-kt-mcfarland-named-next-deputy-national-security-advisor/|title=Jamestown Board Member KT McFarland Named Next Deputy National Security Advisor - Jamestown|newspaper=Jamestown|access-date=2017-02-17|language=en-US}} Press release bio. </ref> In 2015, the [[Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute]] gave McFarland its Woman of the Year award, in an announcement made at [[Conservative Political Action Conference|CPAC]].<ref name =acuward/> In November 2016, the [[American Conservative Union]] selected McFarland as its Conservative in the Spotlight, with ACU chair [[Matt Schlapp]] saying, "KT is not only a brilliant strategist with a wealth of global affairs knowledge, but she is also an expert communicator who knows how to effectively deliver clear and concise messages to grassroots activists."<ref name=acuward>{{cite web|url=http://conservative.org/kt-mcfarland-named-acu-conservative-spotlight/ |title=American Conservative Union | KT McFarland Named ACU “Conservative in the Spotlight” |website=Conservative.org |date= |accessdate=2017-04-10}}</ref> ==References== {{Reflist|30em}} ==External links== {{Commons category|Kathleen Troia McFarland}} *[https://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc NSC page] *[https://www.congress.gov/nomination/115th-congress/605/actions?r=430&overview=closed Ambassadorial nomination progress in Congress] *{{C-SPAN|kathleenmcfarland}} *[http://www.jamestown.org/details/?tx_bzdstaffdirectory_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=45&tx_bzdstaffdirectory_pi1%5BbackPid%5D=46&cHash=a6c6002c040f3d77ba427345f9661bdc Kathleen Troia “KT” McFarland] -Jamestown Foundation *[http://m.imdb.com/name/nm2881394/filmotype?ref_=m_nmfmd_slf_flm IMDB entry] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20161009093623/http://ktmcfarland.com/ Website - archived as of October 2016] *[http://faithandliberty.org/content/kt-mcfarland-and-general-jerry-boykin-national-security-and-islamic-terrorism On National Security and Islamic Terrorism] - with Gen. Jerry Boykin {{s-start}} {{s-dip}} {{s-bef|before=Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath {{small|Acting}}}} {{s-ttl|title=[[United States Ambassador to Singapore]] {{small|Nominee}}|years=Taking office TBD}} {{s-inc}} {{s-end}} {{Trump Executive Office}} {{US Ambassadors to Singapore}} {{DEFAULTSORT:McFarland, Kathleen Troia}} [[Category:1951 births]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford]] [[Category:American people of Sicilian descent]] [[Category:American speechwriters]] [[Category:American women civil servants]] [[Category:Candidates in United States elections, 2006]] [[Category:Commentators]] [[Category:Ford administration personnel]] [[Category:Fox News people]] [[Category:George Washington University alumni]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:New York (state) Republicans]] [[Category:People from Madison, Wisconsin]] [[Category:People from Manhattan]] [[Category:People from Southampton (town), New York]] [[Category:Nixon administration personnel]] [[Category:Reagan administration personnel]] [[Category:Trump administration personnel]] [[Category:United States Department of Defense officials]] [[Category:United States National Security Council staffers]] [[Category:Women in New York (state) politics]]'