Flynn is creating the most military-heavy National Security Council of the modern era

Flynn, a retired lieutenant general, is steadily assembling the most military-heavy National Security Council staff of the modern era. His effort stems from two motivations, according to several transition officials I spoke with. First, he wants people he knows and trusts. More broadly, Flynn believes that the Obama administration’s NSC staff had a dearth of real war-fighting experience, resulting in bad policy decisions and poor follow-through, especially when combating terrorist groups abroad…

Flynn also believes that he must course-correct from an Obama NSC staff he thinks was filled with wonky D.C. types who only knew about war from reading reports, according to transition officials involved in the discussions. Flynn believes if you fill the NSC staff with people who have “borne the battle,” as he likes to say, you will get better outcomes. The risk of that approach? When the only tools you have are hammers, every problem looks like a nail.

“It is a group of people who are operators. There are very few strategic people,” said the official, who was not authorized to talk about internal deliberations. “You had one extreme with Obama, and now Flynn is going to the other extreme. There’s a middle ground.”