Michael Thomas Flynn Former Lieutenant General of the US Army, current National Security Advisor to the President of the United States Date of Birth: 12.1958Год Country: USA

Biography of Michael Thomas Flynn

Michael Thomas "Mike" Flynn, a former Lieutenant General of the U.S. Army, is currently serving as the National Security Advisor to the President of the United States. Born in December 1958 in Middletown, Rhode Island, Flynn earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1981, where he excelled in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. He obtained a Master of Business Administration degree in Telecommunications from Golden Gate University and a Master of Military Arts and Sciences degree from the United States Army Command and General Staff College. Flynn also earned a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College, as well as an honorary doctorate from the Institute of World Politics.

In 1981, Flynn was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and served in military intelligence. He served at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with the 82nd Airborne Division XVIII Airborne Corps, where he was the Assistant Chief of Staff G2 from June 2001 and the Director of Intelligence for the Joint Task Force 180 in Afghanistan until July 2002. Flynn commanded the 111th Military Intelligence Brigade from June 2002 to June 2004. He served as the Director of Intelligence for the Joint Special Operations Command from July 2004 to June 2007. Flynn deployed to Afghanistan, where he participated in Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He also served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. From June 2007 to July 2008, Flynn served as the Director of Intelligence for the United States Central Command, and from July 2008 to June 2009, he served as the Director of Intelligence for the Joint Staff. From June 2009 to October 2010, he served as the Director of Intelligence for the International Security Assistance Force. In September 2011, Flynn was promoted to Lieutenant General and assigned to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. On April 17, 2012, President Barack Obama nominated Flynn to serve as the 18th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Flynn assumed command in July 2012. In October of that year, he announced his forthcoming retirement at the end of 2014, a year earlier than planned. According to leaked emails, Colin Powell claimed that the head of U.S. military intelligence, Vincent R. Stewart, pushed for Flynn's removal due to his "insulting behavior towards the staff, insubordination, working against policy, poor management, and so on." Flynn retired from the U.S. Army on August 7, 2014, after 33 years of service.

On November 18, 2016, Flynn accepted an offer from President-elect Donald Trump to serve as the National Security Advisor. On December 29, 2016, Flynn spoke with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and on the same day, the Obama administration announced its intention to respond to "Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign." At that time, the discussion revolved around the Logan Act, which prohibits U.S. citizens from engaging in independent "foreign relations" with official representatives of another government.

Finally, on January 22, 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported that Flynn was under investigation by U.S. counterintelligence due to his ties to Russian officials. Some media outlets, including the BBC, believe that Flynn serves as a conduit for a secret deal between Trump and Vladimir Putin regarding Syria.

Flynn is a registered member of the Democratic Party. However, this did not prevent him from being the keynote speaker on the first night of the 2016 Republican National Convention.

On July 10, 2016, when journalist Martha Raddatz asked Flynn for his views on the abortion issue, he stated that "women should have the right to choose." The next day, Flynn told Fox News that he is a "pro-life Democrat."

Michael is a board member of the conservative group ACT! for America. He views Islam as one of the main causes of Islamic terrorism, calling it a cancer and a political ideology.

In one of his Twitter posts, Flynn wrote that "the fear of Muslims is RATIONAL" and provided a link to a video claiming that Islam wants to "subjugate or destroy 80% of humanity." Initially supportive of Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States, Flynn later told Al Jazeera that a complete ban was not suitable and instead called for "vetting" of individuals from countries like Syria.

Flynn has advocated for the extradition of Fethullah Gulen to Turkey and for constructive collaboration with Russia on Syrian issues. In 2016, he claimed to have seen photographs showing Arabs from the Southwest border area assisting Muslims in illegally entering the United States.

Flynn co-authored the book "The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies" with Michael Ledeen.