National Security Advisor (United States)

The National Security Advisor, officially known as the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, serves as the top advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues. This person serves on the National Security Council within the President's Executive Office.

Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
Incumbent Marco Rubio Acting since May 1, 2025
Executive Office of the President
Member of	National Security Council Homeland Security Council
Reports to	President of the United States
Appointer	President of the United States
Constituting instrument	National Security Presidential Memorandum[1]
Formation	1953
First holder	Robert Cutler
Deputy	Deputy National Security Advisor
Website	wh.gov/nsc

The National Security Advisor is appointed by the President, and does not have to be approved by the United States Senate. The current acting National Security Advisor is U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

List of National Security Advisors

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office[2]			President(s) served under
			Start	End	Days
1		Robert Cutler (1895–1974)	March 23, 1953	April 2, 1955	740	Dwight D. Eisenhower
2		Dillon Anderson (1906–1974)	April 2, 1955	September 1, 1956	519
Acting		William Harding Jackson (1901–1971)[3][4][5]	September 1, 1956	January 7, 1957	128
3		Robert Cutler (1895–1974)	January 7, 1957	June 24, 1958	533
4		Gordon Gray (1909–1982)	June 24, 1958	January 13, 1961	934
5		McGeorge Bundy (1919–1996)	January 20, 1961	February 28, 1966	1865	John F. Kennedy
						Lyndon B. Johnson
6		Walt Whitman Rostow (1916–2003)	April 1, 1966	January 20, 1969	1025
7		Henry Kissinger (1923–2023)	January 20, 1969	November 3, 1975	2478	Richard Nixon
						Gerald Ford
8		Brent Scowcroft (1925–2020)	November 3, 1975 (first appointment)	January 20, 1977	444
9		Zbigniew Brzezinski (1928–2017)	January 20, 1977	January 20, 1981	1461	Jimmy Carter
10		Richard V. Allen (1936–2024)	January 21, 1981	January 4, 1982	348	Ronald Reagan
Acting		James W. Nance (1921–1999)[6]	November 30, 1981	January 4, 1982	37
11		William P. Clark, Jr. (1931–2013)	January 4, 1982	October 17, 1983	651
12		Robert McFarlane (1937–2022)	October 17, 1983	December 4, 1985	779
13		John Poindexter (1936–)	December 4, 1985	November 25, 1986	356
14		Frank Carlucci (1930–2018)	December 2, 1986	November 23, 1987	356
15		Colin Powell (1937–2021)	November 23, 1987	January 20, 1989	424
16		Brent Scowcroft (1925–2020)	January 20, 1989 (second appointment)	January 20, 1993	1461	George H. W. Bush
17		Anthony Lake (1939–)	January 20, 1993	March 14, 1997	1514	Bill Clinton
18		Sandy Berger (1945–2015)	March 14, 1997	January 20, 2001	1408
19		Condoleezza Rice (1954–)	January 22, 2001[7]	January 25, 2005[7]	1464	George W. Bush
20		Stephen Hadley (1947–)	January 26, 2005[7]	January 20, 2009	1455
21		James L. Jones (1943–)[8]	January 20, 2009	October 8, 2010	626	Barack Obama
22		Thomas E. Donilon (1955–)[9]	October 8, 2010	July 1, 2013[10]	997
23		Susan Rice (1964–)[10]	July 1, 2013[10]	January 20, 2017	1299
24		Michael Flynn (1958–)	January 20, 2017	February 13, 2017	24	Donald Trump
Acting		Keith Kellogg (1944–)	February 13, 2017	February 20, 2017	7
25		H. R. McMaster (1962–)	February 20, 2017	April 9, 2018	412
26		John Bolton (1948–)	April 9, 2018	September 10, 2019	520
Acting		Charles Kupperman (1950–)	September 10, 2019	September 18, 2019	8
27		Robert O’Brien (1966–)	September 18, 2019	January 20, 2021	490
28		Jake Sullivan (1976–)[11]	January 20, 2021	January 20, 2025	1461	Joe Biden
29		Mike Waltz (1974–)	January 20, 2025	May 1, 2025	101	Donald Trump
Acting		Marco Rubio (1971–)	May 1, 2025	Incumbent	0

  Denotes acting