Apologies if already posted.
Changes at US National Security Council as Bolton shuffles Middle East staff
"Three months into the job, National Security Adviser John Bolton is making changes to the staff at the National Security Council as key officials who work on the Middle East are expected to leave their positions.
The National has learned that both the senior director for Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon at the White House National Security Council (NSC) Joel Rayburn, and top Middle East adviser Mike Bell are leaving imminently.
Mr Rayburn is expected to move to the State Department where he will be nominated for a high-level position dealing with the Middle East, sources said. Bob Greenway, a former defence official, will be taking over Mr Rayburn's position.
It is unclear if Mr Bell will stay in government. Among those who left is also NSC's Director for Lebanon James Sindle.
These staff members all remained from the tenure of former National Security Adviser General HR McMaster who left the position in March and will be joining the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University as a visiting fellow this September.
“We don’t comment on personnel issues,” a spokesperson at the National Security Council told The National.
Staff changes have happened routinely at the NSC throughout different administrations, especially for non-political appointees who move around government agencies."…
https://www.thenational.ae/world/the-americas/changes-at-us-national-security-council-as-bolton-shuffles-middle-east-staff-1.747550
Also on another note, in northeast Syria, apparently we are using the LaFarge cement plant as a base for our helicopters. Interesting, since LaFarge has come up in conversations about terrorism.
https://twitter.com/obretix/status/1016609763780591616