Trump taps Gorka for national security advisory board

President Trump has selected former White House official Sebastian Gorka to serve on a national security advisory board, marking the return of a high-profile adviser.

The White House announced in a press release Tuesday that Trump was appointing Gorka to serve as one of the 14 members on the National Security Education Board for a four-year term.

Gorka, who previously advised the president on counterterrorism matters, is one of the six presidential appointees to serve on the board, along with representatives from the Pentagon and other Cabinet-level departments like the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), State Department, Commerce Department and others.

The board members oversee the National Security Education Program (NSEP), which was created to help strategically bridge together the national security community and higher education in order to provide expertise on critical languages and regions.

Members are tasked with providing “strategic consultation” and helping to ensure that NSEP’s “programs remain focused on efforts that serve the broad national security interests of the United States,” according to its website.

Gorka is a controversial figure in Washington, D.C., where he is known for his bombastic comments on various issues as well as his repeated combative clashes with reporters and critics.

He left the White House in August 2017, shortly after Trump’s then-chief strategist Stephen Bannon was pushed out – departures that marked an exodus of key members of the economic nationalist wing within the administration at the time.

Gorka, a close Bannon ally, had also previously worked under Bannon at Breitbart News before following him to the White House.

After his departure, Gorka turned to hosting a conservative, pro-Trump radio show called “America First.”