Bolton's appointment as US NSA to confront challenges of dangerous world: experts

The appointment of John Bolton by President Donald Trump as his National Security Advisor (NSA) is an "excellent choice" to confront the challenges of a dangerous world, the White House said today.

Trump on Thursday fired his NSA Lt Gen H R McMaster and replaced him with Bolton, a conservative hawk and former US Ambassador to the UN, the latest high-level shakeup in the chaotic White House.

The White House said that there has been a widespread support for Bolton, who has a reputation of being hawkish.

"Commentators agree that by appointing Bolton as National Security Advisor (NSA), the President has made an excellent choice to confront the challenges of a dangerous world and build on the accomplishments of outgoing NSA HR McMaster," the White House said.

Bolton would replace McMaster on April 9. He would be the third NSA to Trump.

Critics have said that appointment of Bolton indicates that the US under Trump would give preference to war or taking strong actions against its adversaries.

The White House has denied these allegations and today it pulled out excerpts of comments from major dailies, lawmakers and think tanks which hailed Bolton's appointment as the NSA.

"Trump has said he is at last assembling a Cabinet team to his liking, and late Thursday he announced that John Bolton will replace General HR McMaster as his NSA. It is a solid and experienced choice... Mr Bolton's first job will be to prepare the President for a historic meeting with Kim Jong Un. We may assume Pyongyang knows now that bluffing the US won't work," said the editorial board of the popular Wall Street Journal.

Former Senator Tom Coburn said the decision reflects an understanding of the critical lessons of history, and the designation will greatly reduce the grave risks now faced by America during today's increasingly troubled times.

"If the president can get a better trade deal for American workers while also encouraging Beijing to make Pyongyang see reason and abandon its nuclear weapons, he could be in the running for a Nobel Peace Prize. And Bolton and Pompeo are likely to help him get there," said USA Today's James S Robbins.

National Review's David French said Bolton isn't Dangerous. The World is.

"He's a conservative hawk, yes, but he's squarely in the mainstream of conservative foreign-policy thought," he said.

The New York Times's Bret Stephens said if his presence in the White House helps scare the organisation into real reform, so much the better.

"But Bolton is a formidable intellect, a clear thinker, organised, and a team player. The purpose of the National Security Council is to coordinate the interagency process.

"Not only is Bolton meticulous about process, but he also has the wherewithal to do two things so many past national security advisers did not: force decisions when they needed to be made and then impose discipline on the process to ensure those decisions were carried out," said Michael Rubin from American Enterprise Institute.

"As the president's top security aide, Bolton will be an honest broker and someone who can drive decisions through molasses-thick resistance. These qualities, plus his top-shelf intellect, make Bolton the best national security player to join Trump's West Wing team so far," wrote Hugh Hewitt in The Washington Post.

"In truth, Bolton is a hawk because the world is full of dangerous actors and some evil ones and he sensibly believes there's no point of being America if we're going to roll over and surrender our advantages. Already there are rumblings that Russia, China and North Korea won't be happy to see Bolton having the president's ear - which proves Trump chose wisely," said New York Post's Michael Goodwin.