White House names Douglas Fears as new homeland security advisor

WASHINGTON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The White House on Friday announced that Rear Admiral Douglas Fears would be the new Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism Advisor at the National Security Council (NSC).

U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton hailed Fears as a veteran "across a range of vital homeland security areas including counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and disaster response."

Fears will oversee the NSC Cyberspace Directorate and coordinate interagency efforts during disaster response, according to the White House statement.

Fears, previously the special assistant to the president and senior director for resilience policy at the NSC, was promoted to fill the position vacated by Tom Bossert, who was forced out in April reportedly as a result of a power struggle.

Fears received his education at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, the U.S. Naval War College and Harvard. He had spend 30 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, and was recently tapped to enter the NSC.

The position of homeland security advisor was created after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 to oversee the U.S. homeland security apparatus. Fears would be the eighth to occupy the post. Enditem