Ezra Cohen
Ezra Asa Cohen-Watnick | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 18, 1986[1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Senior Director for Intelligence Programs |
| Spouse | Rebecca Miller |
Ezra Asa Cohen-Watnick (born May 18, 1986) is the Senior Director for Intelligence Programs for the United States National Security Council (NSC).
Early life and career
Cotnick-Watnick was born to Marc Cohen and Terry Watnick.[2] Cohen-Watnick graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008.[3] Before joining the White House, Cohen-Watnick worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).[4] Laura Rozen of Al-Monitor reported that Cohen-Watnick was enrolled in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps but quit in his senior year.[5] He initially applied to join the Central Intelligence Agency but ended up working for the Defense Intelligence Agency, spending time in Miami, Haiti, Virginia and Afghanistan.[5]
Tenure on the National Security Council
Cohen-Watnick was brought to the National Security Council by Michael T. Flynn, the former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and President Trump's first National Security Advisor.[6] Following Flynn's resignation, Cohen-Watnick's position on the Council was opposed by the new National Security Advisor, H. R. McMaster, but supported by President Donald Trump.[7][8]
Cohen-Watnick allegedly collected intelligence suggesting that members of Trump's campaign team had been subjected to incidental surveillance by the United States intelligence community, which was passed on to chairman of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Devin Nunes, who was heading the Committee's investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia; however, according to an unidentified US official, Cohen-Watnick was not aware the material was going to be shared with Nunes.[9][10][8]
Personal life
Cohen-Watnick is a member of the Union League of Philadelphia, a Republican-leaning Patriotic Society.[11] He was engaged to Rebecca Miller at the Ohr Kodesh Congregation in Chevy Chase, Maryland in November 2016, and later married.[12][13][14] His wife worked for Ketchum Inc., where she did public relations work for the Russian government.[15][16]
References
- ^ "Ezra Asa Cohen- Watnick". VoterRecords.com. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
- ^ Schoenberg, E. Randol (31 March 2017). "News drives genealogy, and vice-versa". Archived from the original on April 5, 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
The kiddush was sponsored by Jonathan & Martha Cohen (who turned out to be his paternal grandparents) and Deborah Levine & Marc Cohen (his father and step-mother). Some more Googling led to his mother, the nephrologist Terry Watnick.
- ^ "2008 Commencement Program" (PDF). University of Pennsylvania University Archives. p. 21. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 26, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
Bachelor of Arts [...] Ezra A. Cohen-Watnick
- ^ DeYoung, Karen (March 15, 2017). "Tension between CIA and Trump White House persists over personnel and policy". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
On Friday, McMaster told Ezra Cohen-Watnick, a 30-year-old former Defense Intelligence Agency operative brought on board by McMaster's ousted predecessor, Michael Flynn, that he was being moved to another job from his position as senior NSC director for intelligence programs.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b Rozen, Laura (March 30, 2017). "Here's a photo of Ezra Cohen, the NSC senior director for intelligence, courtesy of a college associate". Twitter. Archived from the original on April 6, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
- ^ Warren, Michael. "McMaster Interviewed CIA Operative to Replace Trump NSC Official". The Weekly Standard.
The current NSC official is Ezra Cohen-Watnick, a 30-year-old former intelligence operations officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency who was brought into the Trump White House by the former DIA director, Mike Flynn. Flynn resigned as national security advisor last month. Like Flynn, Cohen-Watnick has been critical of the CIA's perceived politicization during the Obama administration.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Vogel, Kenneth P.; Johnson, Eliana (March 4, 2017). "Trump steps in to keep 30-year-old NSC aide". Politico.
President Donald Trump has overruled a decision by his national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, to sideline a key intelligence operative who fell out of favor with some at the Central Intelligence Agency, two sources told POLITICO [...]On Friday, McMaster told the National Security Council's senior director for intelligence programs, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, that he would be moved to another position in the organization [...] But Cohen-Watnick appealed McMaster's decision to two influential allies with whom he had forged a relationship while working on Trump's transition team — White House advisers Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner. They brought the matter to Trump on Sunday, and the president agreed that Cohen-Watnick should remain as the NSC's intelligence director, according to two people with knowledge of the episode.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b Miller, Greg; DeYoung, Karen (March 30, 2017). "Three White House officials tied to files shared with House intelligence chairman". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 30, 2017.
{{cite news}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch; March 31, 2017 suggested (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "2 White House officials helped give secret intelligence reports to committee chairman". New York Times via Alaska Dispatch. March 30, 2017.
Several current U.S. officials identified the White House officials as Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence at the National Security Council, and Michael Ellis, a lawyer who works on national security issues at the White House Counsel's Office and formerly worked on the staff of the House Intelligence Committee.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Blake, Aaron (March 30, 2017). "Things just went from bad to worse for Devin Nunes and the White House". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
The New York Times just reported that two White House officials helped provide Nunes with information that President Trump and his associates had been swept up in legal surveillance, just before Nunes briefed Trump himself and then disclosed some of the information to the media and to the House Intelligence Committee that he chairs. The Times' sources identified the officials as Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence at the National Security Council, and Michael Ellis, national security lawyer in the Office of White House Counsel
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Banner" (PDF). Vol. 22, no. 7. Union League of Philadelphia. June 2012. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 30, 2017.
Ezra A. Cohen-Watnick
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "OKC Weekly News, Friday, November 11, 2016: On Shabbat: Bar Mitzvah of Drew Sadikman, Aufruf of Ezra Cohen-Watnick and Rebecca Miller". Ohr Kodesh. November 11, 2016. Archived from the original on March 30, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
[...] and we will celebrate the aufruf of Ezra Cohen-Watnick and Rebecca Miller.
- ^ "Report: Trump overrules national security adviser in order to keep NSC aide Cohen-Watnick". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. March 15, 2017. Archived from the original on March 30, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
Cohen-Watnick celebrated his engagement to Rebecca Miller in November at Ohr Kodesh Congregation, a Conservative synagogue outside Washington, D.C., according to a synagogue newsletter.
- ^ Guttman, Nathan (March 30, 2017). "Meet Ezra Cohen-Watnick, The Secret Source At The Center Of Trump Russia Probe". The Forward. Archived from the original on March 30, 2017.
Cohen-Watnick grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside the nation's capital and attended the nearby Conservative synagogue Ohr Kodesh. Last November he celebrated his engagement to Rebecca Miller at the synagogue.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Arom, Eitan (April 4, 2017). "Wife of key Trump aide worked to make Putin's Russia look good in the West". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
In November, the 30-year-old Trump aide celebrated his upcoming wedding with Rebecca Miller, a content executive at the multinational public-relations firm Ketchum, which was retained until 2015 by the Russian government. While at Ketchum, Miller reportedly worked to "make Russia look better."
- ^ "VICKI FRASER INTERVIEWED BY BLANCHE TOUHILL" (PDF). State Historical Society of Missouri-St. Louis. 6 August 2014. p. 23. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 5, 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
Becky Miller, who works for Ketchum, a PR and marketing firm in Washington, D.C. and her big challenges right now are Ketchum is responsible for providing PR and marketing to try to make Russia look better which is particularly difficult when they're invading other countries and when Putin is somewhat out of control.