TERRORISM: “The director of the National Counterterrorism Center will step down next month, the Trump administration said on Wednesday [11-15-17]. The director, Nicholas J. Rasmussen, is one of the few individuals in the American government who has served continuously in counterterrorism jobs since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Mr. Rasmussen, 52, had served three years as the country’s top counterterrorism official. He had previously worked to combat extremism while at jobs at the White House and at the counterterrorism center, where he served as deputy director from 2012 until taking over as director in December 2014…
Friends and associates said Mr. Rasmussen told colleagues that he decided to remain in the job for about another year after the Trump administration had asked him to stay. Mr. Rasmussen has served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, and 27 years in government overall, and he has not decided what to do next, colleagues said.
Russell Travers, the deputy director of the counterterrorism center, will serve as acting director upon Mr. Rasmussen’s departure in late December and until President Trump nominates a successor, Mr. Coats said.”
-Eric Schmitt, “Director of American Counterterrorism Center to Step Down,” The New York Times online, Nov. 15, 2017