She served as Deputy National Security Advisor under Michael Flynn for the first four months of the Trump administration.
She was asked to step down by Flynn's successor H.
R.
McMaster; news of her pending nomination as U.S.
Ambassador to Singapore was reported at the same time.
President Trump nominated her in May 2017; she withdrew it in February 2018 due to concerns around her answers related to links between Trump associates and Russian officials, in particular about discussions between Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.McFarland began her political career in the 1970s as a night-shift typist and assistant press liaison for National Security Council staff.
In the 1980s she worked in the Department of Defense as a speechwriter and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.
After retiring from public life for 20 years to focus on her family, McFarland ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for the 2006 election for U.S.
Senator from New York.
In the 2010s she was a Fox News national security analyst and online commentator.