The President announced it himself:

I am pleased to announce that I will name Robert C. O’Brien, currently serving as the very successful Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the State Department, as our new National Security Advisor. I have worked long & hard with Robert. He will do a great job!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2019

The Pic in the header comes from the first day of the A$AP Rocky Trial in Stockholm. Robert O’Brien was there. The LATimes article is spectacularly devoid of background on Robert O’Brien, other than the position is the 4th National Security Advisor (we were cheated out of Flynn), and that the position is not subject to Senate Confirmation. https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-09-18/national-security-advisor-robert-c-obrien

From FOX News, we understand O’Brien was under consideration as Sec of the Navy for a period of time. He is currently the Special Envoy in charge of hostages. Hmmm…. the President has had excellent success in releasing American hostages.

You get the feeling the pundits are still digging for background on Robert O’Brien? Yeah, me too.

As information comes in on O’Brien, we will edit and add to inform the QTree. If any of you have info to add, please drop it here so we can compile a full bio and be informed.

Hat tip to the greatest group of crowd-sourcers on the Internet.

Zero Hedge is the first media org to come in with background on Robert O’Brien. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-nominates-special-envoy-obrien-replace-bolton-national-security-advisor

Ambassador Robert C. O’Brien serves as the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Working for Secretary Pompeo, O’Brien leads the U.S. Government’s diplomatic efforts on overseas hostage-related matters. He works closely with the families of American hostages and advises the senior leadership of the U.S. Government on hostage issues. O’Brien also coordinates with the interagency Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell on the development and implementation of U.S. hostage recovery policy and strategy.
O’Brien previously served as Co-Chairman of the U.S. Department of State Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan under both Secretaries Rice and Clinton. The PPJRA promoted the rule of law by training Afghan judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers and provided scholarships for young Afghan lawyers to study in the U.S. From 2008 through 2011, O’Brien was a presidentially-appointed member of the U.S. Cultural Property Advisory Committee, which advises the federal government on issues relating to the trafficking of antiquities and other cultural items. In 2005, Mr. O’Brien was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a U.S. Representative to the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly where he worked with Ambassador John Bolton. Earlier in his career, O’Brien served as a Senior Legal Officer for the UN Security Council commission that decided claims against Iraq arising out of the first Gulf War. O’Brien was a Major in the U.S. Army Reserve.
O’Brien is the co-founding partner of Larson O’Brien LLP in Los Angeles, a nationally recognized litigation firm. His law practice focuses on complex litigation and international arbitration. In addition to his client work, O’Brien has served as an arbitrator in over 20 international proceedings and he has been appointed by the federal courts to serve as a special master in numerous complex cases.
O’Brien is a graduate of the Boalt Hall School of Law at U.C. Berkeley. He received his B.A. degree in political science, cum laude, from UCLA. He is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.
* * *
Like Mitt Romney, whose campaign he worked on as an advisor, O’Brien is a mormon. And after he is confirmed, will be the highest ranking Mormon in the Trump Administration.

As many federal jobs remain unfilled, Trump didn’t take long to nominate O’Brien, which suggests the administration already had him in mind, and that they only needed to vet him.
O’Brien has been involved in many high-profile incidents during the Trump years, including, most recently, the negotiations with Sweden over the fate of rapper A$AP Rocky.

This makes O’Brien the highest ranking Morman in the U.S. government https://t.co/ZN3QOsDHxL
— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) September 18, 2019
Back in 2017, O’Brien was reportedly considered to be Secretary of the Navy, but was instead nominated to his current position, and given the rank of ambassador one year later.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-nominates-special-envoy-obrien-replace-bolton-national-security-advisor

11:00am Eastern Time, the show begins. Michael Horowitz is the Inspector General for the DOJ, FBI, DEA. His testimony (To House Oversight Committee – read as Dems in charge) is supposed to be about progress in oversight over the past 10 years…….. however, with all the interest in the FBI/DOJ scandal, we can expect a few more questions.

Link to testimony: (We are still looking, the below link just takes us to the Committee website.) https://oversight.house.gov/legislation/hearings/overseeing-the-overseers-council-of-the-inspectors-general-on-integrity-and

We HAVE a link, here we go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH6ltqAD8dY

We missed the spectacular Lewandowski testimony yesterday, don’t want to miss anything today.

DOJ IG and CIGIE Chair Michael Horowitz will testify tomorrow morning (9/18) at 11 am at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing: “Overseeing the Overseers: Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency @ 10 Years.” https://t.co/Uv0Yltwquz pic.twitter.com/50YMRDBcz3

— DOJ Inspector General (@JusticeOIG) September 17, 2019

There are three witnesses testifying today:

Witnesses

Ms. Kathy Buller
Inspector General, Peace Corps, on behalf of Executive Director, Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency Legislation Committee

Mr. Scott Dahl
Inspector General, Department of Labor, on behalf of Chairman, Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency

Mr. Michael Horowitz
Inspector General, Department of Justice, on behalf of Chairman, Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency

Today is our birthday!

One year ago today, our fearless leader, Wolfm00n, took it upon himself to create a another meeting place for Treepers. He showed great wisdom and foresight. Thank God he did it. Little did we know, the dark days of the “Great Ban” were just around the corner, November 10th -12th. Thankfully, Wolm00n planted a new QTree.

Although we didn’t know it, many of us had been banned over the years. People whom we admired had strangely disappeared into the internet ether. We thought they drifted away or found other pursuits. No, a good many of them were intentionally silenced. The big purge happened after the midterm elections of 2018 and hundreds of us woke up, oblivious to our crimes and homeless. Some were banned for talking about Q or Jeff Sessions, various reasons, and some of us never knew the reason why we were abruptly excluded.

Well, of course we’re going to talk about it. You can’t tell us what we can say or not say…. or cast us as crazy because we’re asking questions. AND don’t tell me not to look at the pink elephant in the room….. cuz all I want to do is look at that damn elephant….. and it’s a BIG elephant.

That was me, screaming at dear husband, November 2018.

But suddenly, we were alone in the woods.

Like some of you, I assumed something was wrong with my computer, or WordPress, and went looking for help to resolve the issue. We all remembered Wolfm00n from his pivotal doctrine Roller Coaster treatise. I searched out Wolfie, and learned my fate = Banned! Shut out! Silenced! Yet, Wolfm00n extended a hand of friendship, to join a new Tree, this beautiful young and vibrant tree. At that point, we only had a couple of pieces of plywood for our Treehouse, but the view was grand and the potential was glorious.

To be silenced is antithetical to most of us. It’s why we fight the media and big tech attempts to silence conservatives. Therefore, it was a shock when conservatives attempted to silence each other. Felt like betrayal. It hurts. Many of you still harbor resentment to the other side, which is warranted, but ….. after a little time to nurse the wound, I can’t carry the grudge and still admire SD and all the work he’s done over the years. Something happened, something unexplained, and we may never know the reason why. Those who were still angry wanted to cut down all the Trees, but that would mean no voice for any of us, and we can’t stay quiet for too long.

So, we embarked on a new adventure. Wolfm00n had no idea how fast his new Tree would grow. We are forever indebted to Mrs. Wolfm00n and the time she shares her husband with us, here. Thank you, Mrs. Wolfm00n. Speaking of Mrs. Wolfm00n, when the girls showed up at QTree, we were tempted to make the Tree “pretty”, but pink was not the right color for patriotism. We needed RED, WHITE, and BLUE.

We were a little bit bumpy and awkward at first, like a toddler learning to walk, but we’re strong, thriving, and running with the wind, a year later. Our forecast for the remainder of 2019 and into 2020 is excellent, a “strong buy”.

A few days ago, we crossed 250K comments. It was a big moment and personal vindication for Wolfm00n – you were right to do what you did. Checking this morning, we’re over 253K. Our tree is blessed with an overabundance of fertilizer (hehe), plenty of sunshine (We value free speech – “Use it or lose it”.), and an ample supply of water (comments), which are sometimes a steady drip, and at other times…. a great flood. We even have “Butterfly” for our tree, and a church to help us through the rough spots.

Our Tree can be a wondrous and beautiful thing, especially on Saturday mornings when Wheatie posts great pics. The QTree is tended and grows daily with FLEP’s Good News Roundup. Thank you, FLEP. Other members have chipped in to contribute. We learn something new, every day.

Our Tree is still smaller, which is fine with us. We’re more friendly, and far more optimistic. We care about each other (PHC and CrossThread, the daughter to Ga/FL) and many of us have become friends. It’s kind of like we were all kids together, growing up in the same neighborhood, who found each other again.

We’re really just…. normal Americans (with MANY like-minded friends overseas), who represent an unbelievably broad pool of expertise. We have members who can sing like an angel, CPA’s, lawyers, health experts, pilots, engineers, DRILLERs, IT experts, a spelunker, and those who can actually “can” the summer bounty. ALL of them have common sense. Gheez, if our group was rounded up and dispatched to another planet, we could start a new civilization quickly.

But we might need to save our country …… first. As in, America, first.

There are very few absolutes at the QTreeHouse. Yet, one thing is certain, you guys love good food and drink. For our birthday, I looked long and hard for an appropriate birthday cake, but I found as many great cakes as their are opinions and wisdom in the QTreeHouse. I may have to start over again. If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen…… trying to create a masterpiece worthy for our friends.

Congratulations to Wolfm00n and all the best birthday wishes to Treepers here. Together, we look forward to the Trump/Pence Reelection campaign of 2020.

It’s been the best year, EVAH!

Credits can be found underneath or on each photo, the main top photo is listed below.

The masterful Enchanted Treehouse cake was created by Veena Azmanov: https://veenaazmanov.com/enchanted-forest-tree-house-cake/