Appointment of Robert C. McFarlane as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
October 17, 1983
The President announced today his intention to appoint Robert C. McFarlane as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. He will succeed William P. Clark.
Mr. McFarlane has served as the President's Personal Representative in the Middle East since July 1983. He has also served as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs since January 1982.
In January 1981 Mr. McFarlane was nominated as Counselor, Department of State, where he served until becoming Deputy Assistant to the President. In 1979 - 1981 he was a member of the professional staff of the Senate Committee on Armed Services. He was a senior research fellow at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., in 1977 - 1978.
In 1976 - 1977 he was Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Mr. McFarlane was Executive Assistant to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs in 1975 - 1976. From 1973 to 1975, he was military assistant to Dr. Henry Kissinger at the White House. In 1971 - 1972 he was a White House fellow and Executive Assistant to the Counsel to the President for Legislative Affairs.
Mr. McFarlane is retired from the Marine Corps (lieutenant colonel). He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and studied international relations at the Institut des Hautes Etudes in Geneva, Switzerland. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal, the Nation's highest peacetime military decoration.
Mr. McFarlane and his wife Jonda have three children. They reside in Bethesda, Md. He was born July 12, 1937.
Appointment of John M. Poindexter as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
October 17, 1983
The President announced today his intention to appoint John M. Poindexter as the Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. He will succeed Robert C. McFarlane.
Admiral Poindexter joined the National Security Council staff in June 1981 as Military Assistant to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.
Immediately before joining the National Security Council staff, Rear Admiral Poindexter was Deputy Chief of Naval Education and Training and Chief of Staff of the Naval Education and Training Command in Pensacola, Fla. He continues in an active duty naval status in his new assignment.
In 1958 he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at the head of his class. He was a Burke scholar at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, where he earned the degree of doctor of philosophy in nuclear physics in 1964, studying under the Nobel laureate Rudolph Mossbauer.
He was on the personal staff of Secretaries of the Navy John Chafee, John Warner, and J. William Middendorf II from 1971 to 1974, and was Executive Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. James L. Holloway III, 1976 - 1978.
During his naval career, Admiral Poindexter served aboard a number of surface ships. He commanded the guided missile cruiser U.S.S. England (CG - 22) and later commanded destroyer squadron 31. In this capacity, he was a battle group antisurface and antisubmarine warfare commander on deployments to the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean, and South Pacific.
Admiral Poindexter and his wife Linda have five children and reside in Rockville, Md. He was born in Indiana on August 12, 1936.