Washington — Ambassador Robert C. O’Brien just completed his first year as what official documents cryptically call “APNSA”: Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Better known as President Donald J. Trump’s national-security adviser, O’Brien operates from a spacious corner office in the West Wing; since the Nixon administration, its other corner offices have belonged to the press secretary, the chief of staff, and the president of the United States. Beneath dramatically high ceilings, the framed words of Winston Churchill compete for a visitor’s eyes, as do a scale model of Marine One and a digital clock that reports the times of day in key capitals.
When not fielding calls from foreign counterparts and reviewing sensitive papers, O’Brien travels in secure vehicles within Secret Service–shielded motorcades, as he did on a recent diplomatic mission to France.
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