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H. R. McMaster      

NYT Bestselling Author; Former National Security Advisor & Retired US Army Lieutenant General

Former National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster is a preeminent voice on leadership, global security, and international affairs, recognized for his leadership in the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Named one of TIME's "100 Most Influential People in the World" and Fortune's "50 World's Greatest Leaders," McMaster is renowned as a "warrior-intellectual." He is the author of two important and New York Times bestselling books on national security: "Battlegrounds" and "Dereliction of Duty." In 2024, McMaster is set to release his newest book, "At War with Ourselves: Overcoming Chaos in the Trump White House."

McMaster was commissioned in the United States Army upon graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1984. His command assignments in the United States Army include Commanding General at Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Benning; Commander of Combined Joint Inter-Agency Task Force Shafafiyat (Transparency) in Kabul, Afghanistan; and Commander of Third Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Carson, Colorado, and Iraq. He also served as Special Assistant to the Commander of Multinational Force Iraq and as an Assistant Professor of History at West Point. He was a research fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and a Senior Consulting Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He is currently the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a lecturer at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.

McMaster serves as an Advisory Board Member for Spirit of America, geospatial-intelligence corporation Edgybees, C3 AI, and Strider Technologies, as a Board Member of Zoom Video Communications, and is a member of Atlantic Council's Board of Directors. McMaster has published scores of essays, articles, and book reviews on leadership, history, and the future of warfare in many publications, including Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. He was a contributing editor for Survival from 2010-2017.

Speech Topics


Assessing America’s National Security Threats

Former National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster is a preeminent voice on leadership, global security, and international affairs, recognized for his leadership in the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. In this conversation, McMaster digs into the history, scope, and scale of America’s most pressing national security threats. He helps audiences understand the threats facing the United States today and the motivations, goals, and world views of our adversaries. Following a deep dive into American foreign policy, past and present, he explores how to reframe strategy and construct sound policy in light of specific challenges like climate change and Russian misinformation.

Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World

Former National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster provides a bold and provocative examination of the most critical foreign policy and national security challenges that face the United States, and an urgent call to compete to preserve America’s standing and security.

McMaster's remarkable first-hand experience includes 34 years of service in the U.S. Army with multiple tours of duty in battlegrounds overseas, as well as his 13 months as National Security Advisor in the Trump White House. In his illuminating, substantive remarks, he brings this experience to life and dives into the world-shifting events chronicled in his book "Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World." McMaster also provides a powerful call for Americans and citizens of the free world to transcend the vitriol of partisan political discourse, better educate themselves about the most significant challenges to national and international security and work together to secure peace and prosperity for future generations.

Geopolitics and the State of the World Today

Renowned as a pre-eminent "warrior-thinker," Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster shares his views on the state of the world today and what we can expect from the future. A three-star general heralded for his leadership in Afghanistan and Iraq, and a historian whose groundbreaking book Dereliction of Duty has become required reading in military circles, McMaster offers informative, in-depth, and refreshingly candid analysis of the key issues and players shaping the geopolitical landscape.

Leadership in Challenging Times

A three-star general and former U.S. National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster has led large and diverse teams, often in the most perilous and challenging of situations. Drawing on his extensive experience in the field and in the White House, McMaster shares his lessons on effective leadership, from how to be strategic in times of crisis to how to foster loyalty, support, and teamwork

Technology and the Evolving Nature of Global Securit

Former U.S. National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster is uniquely qualified to shed light on the leading security threats of our time and how they are being handled at the highest levels of government. Decoding the evolving nature of global security and the opportunities and risks of new technologies, McMaster shares sharp insights and cutting-edge information on how both nations and organizations can protect themselves in today's ever-changing security landscape.

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