This tweet from Donald Trump’s likely national security adviser is terrifying

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser says North Korea’s nuclear program would be given a high priority under the new administration, a South Korean official who held talks with him said on Saturday.

The selection of Lt. Gen. Flynn as national security adviser is further troubling evidence of President-elect Donald Trump’s lack of judgment in filling the most important national security positions in the USA government.

Since retiring, Flynn has become a fierce opponent of Obama’s policy on Muslim extremists, particularly his handling of the spreading Islamic State group.

Flynn’s paid appearance at a dinner in Russia previous year sitting next to Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised eyebrows, as have his accommodating statements toward Moscow that suggest, along with Trump’s, a readiness to accept Russia’s seizure of Crimea and its support for embattled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

Michael Flynn, who once used the phrase “Islamic ideology sick” on social media, named USA national security adviser.

But for supporters of President-elect Donald Trump and followers of the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, sharing of such articles gives an air of legitimacy to such wild claims. The early retirement resulted from “the stand I took on radical Islam”, he wrote in an op-ed for the New York Post.

In a statement Friday Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he was “deeply concerned” over Flynn’s view on Russian Federation.

He was asked the question in the context of Trump’s scheduled meeting this weekend with 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who earlier this year was a harsh critic of the real estate mogul. But his comments about Islam, a religion practiced by more than 1.5 billion people worldwide, have at times gone beyond condemning radicals inside the faith.

“I’ve been at war with Islam, or a component of Islam, for the last decade”, the retired general once said. They say he lacks the temperament and broader worldview needed at the White House, where he will have to contend with more than just Islamist militants.

Sessions reportedly called a white civil-rights lawyer a “disgrace to his race” for representing black clients, slammed the NAACP as “un-American” and once addressed assistant us attorney Thomas Figures as “boy”, according to testimony from the black lawyer. The official was not authorized to discuss the offer publicly and insisted on anonymity.

In 2010, Flynn co-authored a widely read paper that criticized the intelligence community for its parochialism and failure to take into account broader cultural and historical factors.

Mr. Obama has said he would not comment on appointment being made by the President-elect.

President Obama opposes that viewpoint, saying terrorists should not be identified exclusively by their religion.

The Flynns didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The hawkish 52-year-old Tea Party Republican is in favour of mass surveillance, advocating for the revival of the bulk collection of metadata by the National Security Agency – a position that aligns with Trump’s.

Civil rights activists and the Democrats, who fear that the incoming administration will push a divisive agenda, are watching the emerging Trump team with increasing alarm. “America should not fear our enemies”, Flynn said in his RNC speech.

Trump still has plenty of big appointments yet to make, including secretary of state, that could telegraph other directions.