Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Biden confronts campus protests; Trump hedges on accepting election results

Kristi Noem just won’t stop talking about killing her dog

Noem’s dog-killing isn’t popular, though Trump supporters are divided

Strangers help Sesame Street puppeteer after heirloom necklace was stolen

Teen grabs wheel when driver passes out and school bus veers into traffic

Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away

Ask Amy: My boyfriend just confessed he’s almost $20,000 in debt

Miss Manners: Is it inappropriate to reach out to old girlfriends?

Carolyn Hax: Longtime friend won’t forgive being last-minute canceled for a guy

The new cure-all for vacation excess: the IV drip 

What’s the best bus to New York? We tested 5 for comfort and value.

Adaptive equipment is making national parks more inclusive

Confident of victory over Ukraine, Russia exhibits Western war trophies

Two women are seeking Mexico’s presidency. But the race is about a man.

Hamas in Cairo for hostage talks as Israel briefs aid agencies on Rafah

In a pinch, the Nationals finally find some offense

Is Pastis as good as our food critic thought? He sent spies to find out.

The Capitals, a team in transition, know what they want this offseason

Trump Media auditor charged by SEC with ‘massive fraud’

Google’s empire is massive. A judge will soon rule if it’s a monopoly.

Five tech products we actually like

The Post endorses April McClain Delaney and Tom Royals for Maryland’s 6th District

On Press Freedom Day, little to celebrate for Hong Kong’s journalists

Young Georgians want to be part of Europe. Their government is in the way.

In photos: At least 39 dead as historic flooding hits southern Brazil

Sea level rise brings new era of dangerous flooding

Michael Cohen keeps broadcasting despite being a witness

The New York Times, alone in its outrage over access to Biden

The ‘Access Hollywood’ video cemented Trump’s air of invincibility

Stephen A. Smith would like even more of your attention

Brett McGurk, an Obama administration appointee tasked with helping coordinate the war against the Islamic State, has been asked to stay in his position after President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

McGurk is one of about 50 Obama appointees who will remain in their posts at the Pentagon and across the federal government to maintain “continuity” until Trump’s picks are confirmed, incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday.

Others include <span class="s1">Robert Work, deputy secretary of defense; Chuck Rosenberg, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration; Nick Rasmussen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center; Tom Shannon, undersecretary of state for political affairs; Kody Kinsley, assistant secretary of management at the Department of the Treasury; and Adam Szubin, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence in the Treasury Department.</span>

McGurk said recently that he told Trump’s transition team he was willing to stay on following the inauguration, noting the “apolitical” nature of his work.

Trump has consistently remarked throughout his campaign that he believes President Obama’s approach to fighting the Islamic State hasn’t been successful and that the United States needs to work with Russia to fight the extremist group. In September, he also said that U.S. generals fighting in the region “don’t know much.”

Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, gave lawmakers a more nuanced view of what to expect in the coming months during his confirmation hearing last week. Mattis focused on the Islamic State’s recruiting and financing operations, adding that U.S. forces need an “integrated strategy” to defeat the group. He did not suggest a radical change from how the Obama administration is handling the conflict.

McGurk worked with the provisional Iraqi government after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and on George W. Bush’s National Security Council. He was a proponent of the 2007 troop surge in Iraq and was one of the few holdovers from the Bush administration to work under Obama after the 2008 election. Following a brief stint in the private sector, McGurk came back to the State Department in 2013 as a deputy assistant secretary of state. In 2015 he replaced retired Marine Gen. John Allen as Obama’s envoy to the international coalition fighting the Islamic State.

McGurk was nominated to serve as Obama’s ambassador to Iraq in 2012, but his confirmation was derailed after leaked personal emails revealed that McGurk had been carrying on an intimate relationship with a Wall Street Journal reporter during an earlier diplomatic tenure in Iraq.

<em>Karen DeYoung and Philip Rucker contributed to this report.</em>

Thomas Gibbons-Neff was a Washington Post staff writer. He left The Post in September 2017. 

Thomas Gibbons-Neff

The Washington Post

Foreign Policy

Intelligence

Justice

Military

National Security

prism://prism.query/site,/national-security/military&limit=20

prism://prism.query/site,/national-security&limit=20

Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics.

The Washington Post's coverage of national security issues, including the military, intelligence, justice, and foreign policy.