President Trump has tapped Rear Adm. Douglas Fears as his new homeland security adviser, the White House announced Friday.
Fears will replace former homeland security adviser Tom Bossert, who abruptly resigned in April after Trump’s new national security adviser, John Bolton, took office.
Fears has served for more than 30 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, and has been working as the National Security Council’s (NSC) acting homeland security adviser in recent weeks.
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In a statement issued by the White House, Bolton said that Fears would be his “point person on an array of vital tasks ranging from overseeing the NSC Cybersecurity Directorate to coordinating the interagency efforts during disaster response.”
Fears will hold the title of deputy assistant to the president, as opposed to the title of assistant to the president held by Bossert. That title puts him one rung lower than Bolton, whose official title is assistant to the president for national security affairs.
Fears is an alumnus of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, the U.S. Naval War College and Harvard University, the White House said.