National security

Will Trump's favorite general become his national security adviser?

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, already a top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, has recently landed on most observers' short lists as a likely candidate for the position of national security adviser.

In selecting the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Trump would be picking a combat veteran to guide him through some of his most critical national security decisions.

But he would also be receiving the counsel of a man who has courted controversy in the past and has a reputation for possessing a fiery temperament, not all that different from Trump himself.

The role of national security adviser to the President is all-important and would put Flynn into the pages of American history. First created in the early days of the Cold War, the role is seen as critical to implementing a president's worldview on the various departments and agencies involved in national security.