John O. Brennan Counterterrorism advisor to President Obama When did his time as a counterterrorism advisor to Obama begin? President Obama then appointed him to be his Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, the President's
What led to his appointment?
What led to John O. Brennan's appointment as Obama's Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism?
In late 2008, Brennan was reportedly the top choice to become the next Director of the CIA in the incoming Obama administration. However, Brennan withdrew his name from consideration because of opposition to his CIA service under President George W. Bush and past public statements he had made in support of enhanced interrogation and the transfer of terrorism suspects to countries where they might be tortured (extraordinary rendition). President Obama then appointed him to be his Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, the President's chief counterterrorism advisor and a position that did not require Senate confirmation.  In August 2009, Brennan criticized some Bush-administration anti-terror policies, saying that waterboarding had threatened national security by increasing the recruitment of terrorists and decreasing the willingness of other nations to cooperate with the U.S. He also described the Obama administration's focus as being on "extremists" and not "jihadists". He said that using the second term, which means one who is struggling for a holy goal, gives "these murderers the religious legitimacy they desperately seek" and suggests the US is at war with the religion of Islam.  In an early December 2009 interview with the Bergen Record, Brennan remarked, "the U.S. intelligence and law enforcement communities have to bat 1.000 every day. The terrorists are trying to be successful just once". At a press conference days after the failed Christmas Day bomb attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Brennan said U.S. intelligence agencies did not miss any signs that could have prevented the attempt but later said he had let the President down by underestimating a small group of Yemeni terrorists and not connecting them to the attempted bomber. Within two weeks after the incident, however, he produced a report highly critical of the performance of U.S. intelligence agencies, concluding that their focus on terrorist attempts aimed at U.S. soil was inadequate. In February 2010, he claimed on Meet the Press that he was tired of Republican lawmakers using national security issues as political footballs, and making allegations where they did not know the facts.  Brennan was present in the Situation Room in May 2011 when the United States conducted the military operation that killed Osama bin Laden. He called President Obama's decision to go forward with the mission one of the "gutsiest calls of any president in memory." In the aftermath of the operation, Brennan said that the U.S. troops in the raid had been "met with a great deal of resistance," and bin Laden had used a woman as a human shield. CANNOTANSWER
In August 2009, Brennan criticized some Bush-administration anti-terror policies,
Alexander Chambers (August 23, 1832 – January 2, 1888) was a US Army officer, who became a general during the American Civil War.

Chambers was born in Cattaraugus, New York. He graduated from West Point with the class of 1853 (which also included John Schofield and Philip Sheridan), and was commissioned a second lieutenant. He fought in the Seminole War from 1855, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1859. In May 1861, shortly after the war started, he was promoted to captain, and performed recruiting duty in Iowa. Promoted to colonel in March 1862, he took command of the 16th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment, leading it at the Battle of Shiloh and the Battle of Iuka, being wounded on both occasions. Returning to duty, he led a brigade in the Vicksburg Campaign. In August 1863, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and led a division in the XVII Corps, but his appointment was revoked by the U.S. Senate in April 1864. On December 8, 1868, President Andrew Johnson nominated Chambers for appointment to the brevet grade of brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from March 13, 1865, for the Battle of Champion's Hill, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on February 16, 1869.

After the war, he reverted to the rank of captain and remained in the army and served as a military judge-advocate in Nebraska, receiving promotions to major and lieutenant colonel. He was also military attache to the Ottoman Empire from July 1877 to September 1878. His last appointment was as garrison commander at Fort Townsend. He died in San Antonio, Texas with the rank of colonel in the 17th U.S. Infantry Regiment and was buried in Owatonna, Minnesota.

Notes

References
 Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. .

External links
Service Profile

Biography

1832 births
1888 deaths
People from Cattaraugus County, New York
Union Army colonels Zena Kahn Sheardown  is a Guyanese-Canadian woman, who together with her husband John Sheardown, sheltered six Americans in their home for months during the Iran Hostage Crisis, in what has come to be known as "the Canadian Caper".

In 1980, Sheardown's husband was appointed to the Order of Canada for his role in the Canadian Caper; Sheardown was ineligible for appointment because she was not a Canadian citizen. Her husband campaigned for her appointment, and in 1981, Sheardown was awarded the first-ever honorary appointment to the Order of Canada.

By 1986, Sheardown had become a naturalized Canadian, and her honorary appointment was terminated, in exchange for an appointment as a full member. She thereby became the first person "removed" from the Order of Canada, although it is generally considered a transfer of status rather than a removal.

John and Zena Sheardown were portrayed in the 1981 Canadian-American television movie Escape from Iran: The Canadian Caper by Chris Wiggins and Diana Barrington, respectively. After the big-budget Hollywood movie Argo about the Canadian Caper was released in 2012, director Ben Affleck called to personally apologize to the Sheardowns for having to leave them out due to plot and time constraints, stating in a later interview, "It really did break my heart a bit."

References

Bibliography 
 

Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Members of the Order of Canada
Guyanese emigrants to Canada
Iran hostage crisis
Naturalized citizens of Canada Robert Aslett (born ) was an assistant cashier at the Bank of England under Abraham Newland, condemned to death in 1803 for embezzling Exchequer Bills believed to amount to around £500,000. His sentence was commuted to one of imprisonment.

Aslett's disgrace led to the appointment of Henry Hase as chief cashier. He was a nephew of Abraham Newland.

References 

People associated with the Bank of England
1750s births
Year of death missing
British fraudsters