Michael Thomas Flynn (born December 24, 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who was the 25th National Security Advisor[2] for the first 22 days of the Trump administration until his resignation. Flynn's military career included a key role in shaping U.S. counterterrorism strategy and dismantling insurgent networks in the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, and he was given numerous combat arms, conventional, and special operations senior intelligence assignments.[3][4][5] He served as the 18th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, from July 2012 until his forced retirement from the military in August 2014