Trump Appoints Nazi-Linked Sebastian Gorka to National Security Education Board

On July 14, 2020, a White House press release announced that Sebastian Gorka, formerly a Trump White House Deputy Assistant, has been appointed to the National Security Education Board.

Gorka has been widely criticized for his ties to Vitézi Rend, a far-right and antisemitic Hungarian group that collaborated with the Nazis. Gorka denies being a sworn member of the group, but he attended the 2017 Inaugural Ball wearing a Vitézi Rend medal — one he had been photographed wearing in the past.

The National Security Education Board, which is made up of fourteen members, six of whom are presidential appointees, oversees the National Security Education Program (NSEP).

According to its website, NSEP is a Federal initiative with five major purposes:

1. To provide the necessary resources, accountability, and flexibility to meet the national security education needs of the United States, especially as such needs change over time,

2. To increase the quantity, diversity, and quality of the teaching and learning of subjects in the fields of foreign languages, area studies, and other international fields that are critical to the Nation's interests,

3. To produce an increased pool of applicants for work in the departments and agencies of the United States Government with national security responsibilities,

4. To expand, in conjunction with other Federal programs, the international experience, knowledge base, and perspectives on which the United States citizenry, government employees, and leaders rely, and

5. To permit the federal government to advocate the cause of international education.