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Gorka has written for a variety of publications, is generally considered politically [[Conservatism|conservative]]<ref name="wapo170220" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://uk.businessinsider.com/sebastian-gorka-trump-bio-profile-2017-2 |title=Sebastian Gorka, Trump's combative new national security aide, is widely disdained within his own field|newspaper=Business Insider|access-date=2017-02-24|language=en}}</ref> and has ties to the [[alt-right]].<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/08/10/why-is-sebastian-gorka-still-in-the-white-house-because-trump-loves-his-tv-performances/?utm_term=.85e7cd2b95a3</ref><ref>http://www.mcclatchydc.com/article167025242.html</ref><ref>https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/14/donald-trump-steve-bannon-breitbart-news-alt-right-charlottesville</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/article167025242.html|title=Rights leaders demand Trump fire ‘alt-right’ hero Steve Bannon|work=charlotteobserver|access-date=2017-08-16|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/13/politics/leaders-ask-trump-to-fire-senior-admin/index.html|title=Civil rights leaders demand Trump disavow white supremacists|last=CNN|first=Jasmine Lee|website=CNN|access-date=2017-08-16}}</ref>
Gorka has written for a variety of publications, is generally considered politically [[Conservatism|conservative]]<ref name="wapo170220" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://uk.businessinsider.com/sebastian-gorka-trump-bio-profile-2017-2 |title=Sebastian Gorka, Trump's combative new national security aide, is widely disdained within his own field|newspaper=Business Insider|access-date=2017-02-24|language=en}}</ref> and has ties to the [[alt-right]].<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/08/10/why-is-sebastian-gorka-still-in-the-white-house-because-trump-loves-his-tv-performances/?utm_term=.85e7cd2b95a3</ref><ref>http://www.mcclatchydc.com/article167025242.html</ref><ref>https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/14/donald-trump-steve-bannon-breitbart-news-alt-right-charlottesville</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/article167025242.html|title=Rights leaders demand Trump fire ‘alt-right’ hero Steve Bannon|work=charlotteobserver|access-date=2017-08-16|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/13/politics/leaders-ask-trump-to-fire-senior-admin/index.html|title=Civil rights leaders demand Trump disavow white supremacists|last=CNN|first=Jasmine Lee|website=CNN|access-date=2017-08-16}}</ref>


Various national security scholars in academic and policymaking circles have characterized Gorka as [[Fringe science|fringe]]. Some critics have challenged his academic credentials, his views on [[Islam]] and [[radicalization]]—as well as his alleged motives for identifying with the [[Order of Vitéz]] or supporting the EU-banned [[Antiziganism|anti-Roma]] and [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]] [[Magyar Gárda|Hungarian Guard]].
Various national security scholars in academic and policymaking circles have characterized Gorka as [[Fringe science|fringe]]. Some critics have challenged his academic credentials, his views on [[Islam]] and [[radicalization]]—as well as his motives for identifying with the [[Order of Vitéz]] or supporting the EU-banned [[Antiziganism|anti-Roma]] and [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]] [[Magyar Gárda|Hungarian Guard]].


Gorka has given a series of combative interviews with the press in which he has defended the [[Presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration]]'s positions on national security and [[Foreign policy of Donald Trump|foreign policy]]. He has referred to himself as "the President's pitbull."<ref>http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/342171-sebastian-gorka-casts-himself-as-trumps-pitbull</ref>
Gorka has given a series of combative interviews with the press in which he has defended the [[Presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration]]'s positions on national security and [[Foreign policy of Donald Trump|foreign policy]]. He has referred to himself as "the President's pitbull."<ref>http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/342171-sebastian-gorka-casts-himself-as-trumps-pitbull</ref>
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==Early life and education==
==Early life and education==
Gorka was born in [[Hammersmith]], [[London]], on October 22, 1970, to Zsuzsa (Susan) Biro and Pál (Paul) Gorka. They had fled to the United Kingdom from Hungary after the failed [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|1956 uprising]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=U98q%2BsoJyw3eCHvRcvl65A&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=30 April 2017 |work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}}
Gorka was born in [[Hammersmith]], [[London]], on October 22, 1970, to Zsuzsa (Susan) Biro and Pál (Paul) Gorka. They had fled to the United Kingdom from Hungary after the failed [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|1956 uprising]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=U98q%2BsoJyw3eCHvRcvl65A&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=30 April 2017 |work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}}
</ref><ref name="IWP">{{Cite web|title=Sebastian Gorka |language=English |url=http://www.iwp.edu/faculty/detail/sebastian-gorka|website=www.iwp.edu|publisher=The Institute of World Politics|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref> His father was imprisoned in the [[Rákosi Mátyás|Rakosi-regime]]. Sebastian Gorka's mother ''Susan'' "with Carla Venchiarutti, and Dr. Nicholas Reynolds conducted some of the preparatory interview" for [[David Irving]]'s book 1956: Uprising<ref>{{cite web|last1=Irving|first1=David|title=1956: Uprising.|url=:http://www.fpp.co.uk/books/Uprising/intro.html|accessdate=16 August 2017}}</ref> He attended [[St Benedict's School, Ealing|St Benedict's School]] in west London, and received a lower second-class honours (2:2) [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in philosophy and theology from [[Heythrop College, University of London|Heythrop College]], of the [[University of London]].<ref name=tel170401>{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/31/exclusive-powerful-briton-america-really-like-donald-trumps/|title=The most powerful Briton in America on what it's really like in Donald Trump's White House|date=April 1, 2017|work=Telegraph|author=Ruth Sherlock}}</ref><ref name="IWP" /><ref name="Aiken Republic Club">{{Cite web|title=Aiken Republic Club {{!}} Sebastian L Gorka – May 24th|url=http://aikenrepublicanclub.com/sebastian-l-gorka-may-24th/|website=aikenrepublicanclub.com|access-date=13 February 2017|language=English}}</ref><ref name="ICT">{{Cite web|title=Gorka, Sebastian (Dr.) |url=https://www.ict.org.il/Worker.aspx?ID=450 |publisher=International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) |language=en |access-date=13 February 2017 }}</ref> While at university, he joined the British [[Army Reserve (United Kingdom)|Territorial Army]], serving for three years in the 22 Intelligence Company of the [[Intelligence Corps (United Kingdom)|Intelligence and Security Group (Volunteers)]], an interrogation unit with a [[NATO]] role specializing in Russian and other languages supporting [[I Corps (United Kingdom) |1 (BR) Corps]] until the latter was disbanded in 1992, at the end of the [[Cold War]].<ref name="AW">{{cite web|last1=Weale|first1=Adrian|title=Sebastian Gorka and his distinguished military career|url=https://adrianweale.com/2017/03/05/sebastian-gorka-and-his-distinguished-military-career/|website=adrianweale.com|access-date=20 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="IWP" /><ref name="NvdB">{{cite book|last1=van der Bijl|first1=Nick|title=Sharing the Secret: The History of the Intelligence Corps 1940-2010|date=2014|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-1848844131|pages=257-8|url=https://books.google.de/books?id=rcY7BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA257|access-date=23 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="Merlan">{{cite web|last1=Merlan|first1=Anna|title=What Did Sebastian Gorka Do in the British Army?|url=http://theslot.jezebel.com/what-did-sebastian-gorka-do-in-the-british-army-1793736609|website=jezebel.com|publisher=[[Jezebel (website)|Jezebel]]|access-date=13 April 2017|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6phJsWmG0|archivedate=13 April 2017|deadurl=no}}</ref>
</ref><ref name="IWP">{{Cite web|title=Sebastian Gorka |language=English |url=http://www.iwp.edu/faculty/detail/sebastian-gorka|website=www.iwp.edu|publisher=The Institute of World Politics|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref> He attended [[St Benedict's School, Ealing|St Benedict's School]] in west London, and received a lower second-class honours (2:2) [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in philosophy and theology from [[Heythrop College, University of London|Heythrop College]], of the [[University of London]].<ref name=tel170401>{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/31/exclusive-powerful-briton-america-really-like-donald-trumps/|title=The most powerful Briton in America on what it's really like in Donald Trump's White House|date=April 1, 2017|work=Telegraph|author=Ruth Sherlock}}</ref><ref name="IWP" /><ref name="Aiken Republic Club">{{Cite web|title=Aiken Republic Club {{!}} Sebastian L Gorka – May 24th|url=http://aikenrepublicanclub.com/sebastian-l-gorka-may-24th/|website=aikenrepublicanclub.com|access-date=13 February 2017|language=English}}</ref><ref name="ICT">{{Cite web|title=Gorka, Sebastian (Dr.) |url=https://www.ict.org.il/Worker.aspx?ID=450 |publisher=International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) |language=en |access-date=13 February 2017 }}</ref> While at university, he joined the British [[Army Reserve (United Kingdom)|Territorial Army]], serving for three years in the 22 Intelligence Company of the [[Intelligence Corps (United Kingdom)|Intelligence and Security Group (Volunteers)]], an interrogation unit with a [[NATO]] role specializing in Russian and other languages supporting [[I Corps (United Kingdom) |1 (BR) Corps]] until the latter was disbanded in 1992, at the end of the [[Cold War]].<ref name="AW">{{cite web|last1=Weale|first1=Adrian|title=Sebastian Gorka and his distinguished military career|url=https://adrianweale.com/2017/03/05/sebastian-gorka-and-his-distinguished-military-career/|website=adrianweale.com|access-date=20 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="IWP" /><ref name="NvdB">{{cite book|last1=van der Bijl|first1=Nick|title=Sharing the Secret: The History of the Intelligence Corps 1940-2010|date=2014|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-1848844131|pages=257-8|url=https://books.google.de/books?id=rcY7BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA257|access-date=23 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="Merlan">{{cite web|last1=Merlan|first1=Anna|title=What Did Sebastian Gorka Do in the British Army?|url=http://theslot.jezebel.com/what-did-sebastian-gorka-do-in-the-british-army-1793736609|website=jezebel.com|publisher=[[Jezebel (website)|Jezebel]]|access-date=13 April 2017|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6phJsWmG0|archivedate=13 April 2017|deadurl=no}}</ref>


In 1992, he moved to Hungary, where he worked for the Hungarian Ministry of Defence<ref name="Csapo">{{Cite web|last=Csapó |first=Endre |title=A Gorka-jelenség |trans-title=The Gorka phenomenon |language=hu |publisher=Hunsor |date=February 15, 2007 |url=http://www.hunsor.se/csapotudositasai/gorkajelenseg070307.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230204217/http://www.hunsor.se/csapotudositasai/gorkajelenseg070307.htm |archive-date=30 December 2010 |deadurl=no}}</ref> while studying for a master's degree in international relations and diplomacy at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration, now known as the [[Corvinus University of Budapest|Corvinus University]], which he completed in 1997. In 1997, he was a Partnership for Peace International research fellow at the [[NATO Defense College]] in Rome.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nato.int/docu/review/2006/Invokation-Article-5/Invocation_context/EN/index.htm|title=Invocation of Article Five: Five Years On|last=Gorka|first=Sebestyén|date=1997|website=NATO Review|publisher=NATO|access-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref> Gorka was a Kokkalis Fellow at the [[John F. Kennedy School of Government]] at [[Harvard University]] during the 1998&ndash;1999 academic year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kokkalisfoundation.gr/page.ashx?pid=14&aid=157&cid=15&qcid=71|title=The Kokkalis Foundation : Sebestyen Gorka|website=www.kokkalisfoundation.gr|access-date=2017-02-18}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-national-security-gorka-234950|title=The husband-and-wife team driving Trump's national security policy|work=POLITICO|access-date=2017-03-01}}</ref>
In 1992, he moved to Hungary, where he worked for the Hungarian Ministry of Defence<ref name="Csapo">{{Cite web|last=Csapó |first=Endre |title=A Gorka-jelenség |trans-title=The Gorka phenomenon |language=hu |publisher=Hunsor |date=February 15, 2007 |url=http://www.hunsor.se/csapotudositasai/gorkajelenseg070307.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230204217/http://www.hunsor.se/csapotudositasai/gorkajelenseg070307.htm |archive-date=30 December 2010 |deadurl=no}}</ref> while studying for a master's degree in international relations and diplomacy at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration, now known as the [[Corvinus University of Budapest|Corvinus University]], which he completed in 1997. In 1997, he was a Partnership for Peace International research fellow at the [[NATO Defense College]] in Rome.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nato.int/docu/review/2006/Invokation-Article-5/Invocation_context/EN/index.htm|title=Invocation of Article Five: Five Years On|last=Gorka|first=Sebestyén|date=1997|website=NATO Review|publisher=NATO|access-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref> Gorka was a Kokkalis Fellow at the [[John F. Kennedy School of Government]] at [[Harvard University]] during the 1998&ndash;1999 academic year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kokkalisfoundation.gr/page.ashx?pid=14&aid=157&cid=15&qcid=71|title=The Kokkalis Foundation : Sebestyen Gorka|website=www.kokkalisfoundation.gr|access-date=2017-02-18}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-national-security-gorka-234950|title=The husband-and-wife team driving Trump's national security policy|work=POLITICO|access-date=2017-03-01}}</ref>


In 1998, Gorka served as an adviser to [[Viktor Orbán]].<ref name="hungarianspectrum2017-01-31">{{Cite web|title=Sebastian Gorka's road from Budapest to the White House |date=January 31, 2017 |magazine=Hungarian Spectrum |url= http://hungarianspectrum.org/2017/01/31/sebastian-gorkas-road-from-budapest-to-the-white-house/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206110056/http://hungarianspectrum.org/2017/01/31/sebastian-gorkas-road-from-budapest-to-the-white-house/ |archive-date=February 6, 2017 |deadurl=no}}</ref> In 2002, he entered the political science doctoral program at Corvinus University, completing his dissertation in 2007.<ref name="Balogh-1" /><ref name="PhD">{{Cite journal|last=Gorka|first=Sebestyén L. v.|date=2007|title=Content and End-State-based Alteration in the Practice of Political Violence since the End of the Cold War: the difference between the terrorism of the Cold War and the terrorism of al Qaeda: the rise of the "transcendental terrorist|url=http://phd.lib.uni-corvinus.hu/314/2/gorka_sebestyen_ten.pdf|journal=Corvinus University of Budapest|doi=|pmid=|access-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref> His In-House dissertation Adviser was [[András Lánczi]], his External dissertation adviser was professor Stephen Sloan<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sloan|first1=Stephen|title=Curriculum Vitae|url=http://ucfglobalperspectives.org/app/webroot/file/events/Sloan-bio.pdf|publisher=Temple University|accessdate=16 August 2017}}</ref> from the Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy,
In 1998, Gorka served as an adviser to [[Viktor Orbán]].<ref name="hungarianspectrum2017-01-31">{{Cite web|title=Sebastian Gorka's road from Budapest to the White House |date=January 31, 2017 |magazine=Hungarian Spectrum |url= http://hungarianspectrum.org/2017/01/31/sebastian-gorkas-road-from-budapest-to-the-white-house/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206110056/http://hungarianspectrum.org/2017/01/31/sebastian-gorkas-road-from-budapest-to-the-white-house/ |archive-date=February 6, 2017 |deadurl=no}}</ref> In 2002, he entered the political science doctoral program at Corvinus University, completing his dissertation in 2007.<ref name="Balogh-1" /><ref name="PhD">{{Cite journal|last=Gorka|first=Sebestyén L. v.|date=2007|title=Content and End-State-based Alteration in the Practice of Political Violence since the End of the Cold War: the difference between the terrorism of the Cold War and the terrorism of al Qaeda: the rise of the "transcendental terrorist|url=http://phd.lib.uni-corvinus.hu/314/2/gorka_sebestyen_ten.pdf|journal=Corvinus University of Budapest|doi=|pmid=|access-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref> Gorka is a naturalized American citizen.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://uk.businessinsider.com/trumps-aide-seb-gorka-tied-to-far-right-anti-semitic-group-2017-2?r=US&IR=T|title=Trump's controversial national security aide reportedly tied to far-right, anti-semitic group|work=Business Insider|access-date=2017-03-01|language=en}}</ref>
[[Temple University]]. Gorka is a naturalized American citizen.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://uk.businessinsider.com/trumps-aide-seb-gorka-tied-to-far-right-anti-semitic-group-2017-2?r=US&IR=T|title=Trump's controversial national security aide reportedly tied to far-right, anti-semitic group|work=Business Insider|access-date=2017-03-01|language=en}}</ref>


== Career ==
== Career ==
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==Controversy==
==Controversy==
Sebastian Gorka's mother Susan worked as a translator with [[David Irving]], the discredited historian described by a judge as a "Holocaust denier … anti-Semitic and racist, and that he associates with right-wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism".<ref name="Susan Gorka">{{Cite news |title=Sebastian Gorka made Nazi-linked Vitezi Rend 'proud' by wearing its medal |newspaper=[[NBC News]] |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/sebastian-gorka-made-nazi-linked-vitezi-rend-proud-wearing-its-n742851 |date=8 April 2017 |access-date=12 August 2017}}</ref>


===Credentials===
===Credentials===
Gorka has been characterized as a fringe figure in academic and policy-making circles.<ref name=wapo170220 /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Welna |first=David |date=24 February 2017 |title=Criticized By Peers, White House Counterterrorism Adviser Returns Fire |publisher=National Public Radio (NPR) |url=http://www.npr.org/2017/02/24/517097745/criticized-by-peers-white-house-counterterror-adviser-returns-fire |access-date=2017-02-25}}</ref><ref name="nyt170224">{{cite news|first=Steven |last=Simon |first2=Daniel |last2=Benjamin |title=The Islamophobic Huckster in the White House|date=February 24, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/opinion/the-islamophobic-huckster-in-the-white-house.html }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite magazine|last=Walt |first=Stephen M. |title=Five Ways Donald Trump Is Wrong About Islam |magazine=Foreign Policy |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/17/five-ways-donald-trump-is-wrong-about-islam/ |access-date=2017-02-25}}</ref><ref name=tel170401 /><ref name=":7">{{Cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.785733|title=Stop Calling Him 'Dr.': The Academic Fraud of Sebastian Gorka, Trump’s Terrorism 'Expert'|last=Reynolds|first=Andrew|date=2017-04-27|work=Haaretz|access-date=2017-04-27|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/mitchprothero/how-a-trump-adviser-failed-upwards-from-hungary-to-the|title=The Hungarian Rise And Fall Of Sebastian Gorka|work=BuzzFeed|access-date=2017-04-27|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/11/donald-trump-loyalists-respond-message-north-korea|title=Donald Trump loyalists eager to back up his rhetoric on North Korea|last=Gambino|first=Lauren|date=2017-08-11|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-08-11|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite news|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/sebastian-gorka-the-west-wings-phony-foreign-policy-guru-w496912|title=Sebastian Gorka, the West Wing's Phony Foreign-Policy Guru|work=Rolling Stone|access-date=2017-08-11}}</ref> ''[[Business Insider]]'' Politics Editor Pamela Engel has described Gorka as being "widely disdained within his own field."<ref name=":0" /><ref name=mediaite17>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mediaite.com/tv/richard-painter-demands-trump-fire-seb-gorka-and-steve-bannon-over-charlottesville-violence/|title=Richard Painter Demands Trump Fire Seb Gorka and Steve Bannon Over Charlottesville Violence|website=www.mediaite.com|language=en|access-date=2017-08-13}}</ref>
Gorka has been characterized as a fringe figure in academic and policy-making circles.<ref name=wapo170220 /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Welna |first=David |date=24 February 2017 |title=Criticized By Peers, White House Counterterrorism Adviser Returns Fire |publisher=National Public Radio (NPR) |url=http://www.npr.org/2017/02/24/517097745/criticized-by-peers-white-house-counterterror-adviser-returns-fire |access-date=2017-02-25}}</ref><ref name="nyt170224">{{cite news|first=Steven |last=Simon |first2=Daniel |last2=Benjamin |title=The Islamophobic Huckster in the White House|date=February 24, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/opinion/the-islamophobic-huckster-in-the-white-house.html }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite magazine|last=Walt |first=Stephen M. |title=Five Ways Donald Trump Is Wrong About Islam |magazine=Foreign Policy |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/17/five-ways-donald-trump-is-wrong-about-islam/ |access-date=2017-02-25}}</ref><ref name=tel170401 /><ref name=":7">{{Cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.785733|title=Stop Calling Him 'Dr.': The Academic Fraud of Sebastian Gorka, Trump’s Terrorism 'Expert'|last=Reynolds|first=Andrew|date=2017-04-27|work=Haaretz|access-date=2017-04-27|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/mitchprothero/how-a-trump-adviser-failed-upwards-from-hungary-to-the|title=The Hungarian Rise And Fall Of Sebastian Gorka|work=BuzzFeed|access-date=2017-04-27|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/11/donald-trump-loyalists-respond-message-north-korea|title=Donald Trump loyalists eager to back up his rhetoric on North Korea|last=Gambino|first=Lauren|date=2017-08-11|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-08-11|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite news|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/sebastian-gorka-the-west-wings-phony-foreign-policy-guru-w496912|title=Sebastian Gorka, the West Wing's Phony Foreign-Policy Guru|work=Rolling Stone|access-date=2017-08-11}}</ref> ''[[Business Insider]]'' Politics Editor Pamela Engel has described Gorka as being "widely disdained within his own field."<ref name=":0" /><ref name=mediaite17>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mediaite.com/tv/richard-painter-demands-trump-fire-seb-gorka-and-steve-bannon-over-charlottesville-violence/|title=Richard Painter Demands Trump Fire Seb Gorka and Steve Bannon Over Charlottesville Violence|website=www.mediaite.com|language=en|access-date=2017-08-13}}</ref>


A number of academics and policymakers have questioned Gorka's knowledge of foreign policy issues, his academic credentials and his professional behavior.<ref name="wapo170220" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name="nyt170224" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite magazine|last=Boot |first=Max |date=21 February 2017 |title=The Worst and the Dimmest |magazine=Foreign Policy |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/21/the-worst-and-the-dimmest/ |subscription=yes |access-date=25 February 2017}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/02/27/survival-tips-for-sebastian-gorka-phd/|title=Perspective {{!}} Survival tips for Sebastian Gorka, PhD|website=Washington Post|access-date=2017-02-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/17/dr-sebastian-gorka-may-be-a-far-right-nativist-but-for-sure-hes-a-terrible-scholar-trump-radical-islam/|title=Dr. Sebastian Gorka May Be a Far-Right Nativist, But for Sure He’s a Terrible Scholar|website=Foreign Policy|access-date=2017-03-17}}</ref><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":11" /><ref name=":10" /> [[Andrew Reynolds (political scientist)|Andrew Reynolds]], political science professor at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]], questioned the validity of Gorka's PhD, noting discrepancies between how doctorates are normally awarded and how Gorka's was awarded.<ref name=":7" /> Reynolds said that the evaluations of each referee on Gorka's PhD committee was "a page of generalized comments – completely at odds with the detailed substantive and methodological evaluations that I've seen at every Ph.D defence I've been on over the last twenty years."<ref name=":7" /> According to Reynolds, that two of the three referees only had BA degrees, and one of the referees had published with Gorka previously breached conventional academic practices.<ref name=":7" /> The only individual on the committee who is currently in possession of a PhD is [[György Schöpflin]], former [[Jean Monnet]] Professor of [[Political science|Politics]] at the [[School of Slavonic and East European Studies]], [[University College London]]. The journal ''[[Terrorism and Political Violence]]'' has never used Gorka as a reviewer because, according to the associate editor, he "is not considered a terrorism expert by the academic or policy community.”<ref name="Stein2017a">{{Cite magazine|last1=Stein |first1=Jeff |date=23 February 2017 |title=Exclusive: Listen to Controversial White House Terrorism Adviser Sebastian Gorka’s Angry Call to a Critic |magazine=[[Newsweek]] |url=http://www.newsweek.com/sebastian-gorka-white-house-terrorism-adviser-angry-call-559805 |access-date=25 February 2017}}</ref> In August 2017, Gorka falsely asserted that the Obama administration "invented" the term "lone-wolf terrorism", when in fact the term had been widely used in the academic literature, media and by governments long before Obama took office.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/aug/10/sebastian-gorka/no-obama-administration-didnt-invent-term-lone-wol/|title=No, Obama didn't invent the term lone wolf|work=@politifact|access-date=2017-08-11|language=en}}</ref> Responding to his academic critics, Gorka stated that there has been an ongoing "proxy war" and that others were attacking him as a way to attack President Trump.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/nick-ferrari/gorka-nazi-trump-badge-czech-communist-nick/|title=Does Trump Advisor Have Nazi Links? Nick Asks Him|work=LBC|access-date=2017-04-27|language=en}}</ref>
A number of academics and policymakers have questioned Gorka's knowledge of foreign policy issues, his academic credentials and his professional behavior.<ref name="wapo170220" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name="nyt170224" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite magazine|last=Boot |first=Max |date=21 February 2017 |title=The Worst and the Dimmest |magazine=Foreign Policy |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/21/the-worst-and-the-dimmest/ |subscription=yes |access-date=25 February 2017}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/02/27/survival-tips-for-sebastian-gorka-phd/|title=Perspective {{!}} Survival tips for Sebastian Gorka, PhD|website=Washington Post|access-date=2017-02-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/17/dr-sebastian-gorka-may-be-a-far-right-nativist-but-for-sure-hes-a-terrible-scholar-trump-radical-islam/|title=Dr. Sebastian Gorka May Be a Far-Right Nativist, But for Sure He’s a Terrible Scholar|website=Foreign Policy|access-date=2017-03-17}}</ref><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":11" /><ref name=":10" /> Andrew Reynolds, political science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, questioned the validity of Gorka's PhD, noting discrepancies between how doctorates are normally awarded and how Gorka's was awarded.<ref name=":7" /> Reynolds said that the evaluations of each referee on Gorka's PhD committee was "a page of generalized comments – completely at odds with the detailed substantive and methodological evaluations that I've seen at every Ph.D defence I've been on over the last twenty years."<ref name=":7" /> According to Reynolds, that two of the three referees only had BA degrees, and one of the referees had published with Gorka previously breached conventional academic practices.<ref name=":7" /> The only individual on the committee who is currently in possession of a PhD is [[György Schöpflin]]. Reynolds described Schöpflin as "an extreme right wing Hungarian Member of the European Parliament who recently advocated putting pigs heads on a fence on the Hungarian border to keep out Muslims."<ref name=":7" /> The journal ''[[Terrorism and Political Violence]]'' has never used Gorka as a reviewer because, according to the associate editor, he "is not considered a terrorism expert by the academic or policy community.”<ref name="Stein2017a">{{Cite magazine|last1=Stein |first1=Jeff |date=23 February 2017 |title=Exclusive: Listen to Controversial White House Terrorism Adviser Sebastian Gorka’s Angry Call to a Critic |magazine=[[Newsweek]] |url=http://www.newsweek.com/sebastian-gorka-white-house-terrorism-adviser-angry-call-559805 |access-date=25 February 2017}}</ref> In August 2017, Gorka falsely asserted that the Obama administration "invented" the term "lone-wolf terrorism", when in fact the term had been widely used in the academic literature, media and by governments long before Obama took office.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/aug/10/sebastian-gorka/no-obama-administration-didnt-invent-term-lone-wol/|title=No, Obama didn't invent the term lone wolf|work=@politifact|access-date=2017-08-11|language=en}}</ref> Responding to his academic critics, Gorka stated that there has been an ongoing "proxy war" and that others were attacking him as a way to attack President Trump.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/nick-ferrari/gorka-nazi-trump-badge-czech-communist-nick/|title=Does Trump Advisor Have Nazi Links? Nick Asks Him|work=LBC|access-date=2017-04-27|language=en}}</ref>


Heritage Foundation national-security scholar [[James Carafano]] has praised Gorka for focusing on "the war of ideas," adding, "I think the notion that we can fight [radical Islamism] without discussing and referencing the religion is kind of ridiculous.<ref name=":0" /> Former U.S. Ambassador [[Alberto Fernandez (United States official)|Alberto Fernandez]] who headed the Obama-era State Department Center for Strategic Counterterrorism has said Gorka was a "good choice" for his White House role because "he has a more solid grasp of the ideological challenge than his NSC political appointee counterparties in the previous administration", <ref name=":0" /> [[Ilan Berman]]<ref name="Conservative Review">{{Cite news|last=Schachtel|first=Jordan |date=27 February 2017 |title=Meet the media's latest target for political destruction in Trump's White House: Dr. Sebastian Gorka |newspaper=Conservative Review |url=https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2017/02/meet-the-medias-latest-target-for-political-destruction-in-trumps-white-house-dr-sebastian-gorka |access-date=2017-02-27}}</ref> and [[Zuhdi Jasser]].<ref name="Business Insider">{{Cite news|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/sebastian-gorka-right-wing-national-security-experts-white-house-2017-3|title=Experts previously on the fringes of the national-security community are now helping craft policy in the White House|last=Engel|first=Pamela|date=4 March 2017|access-date=2017-03-05|newspaper=Business Insider}}</ref> Congressman [[Robert Pittenger]] defended Gorka, stating that Gorka "is a friend and trusted adviser on efforts to combat radical Islamic terrorism."<ref name="Media Center, US Congressman Robert Pittenger">{{Cite news|title=Pittenger statement on WH Deputy Assistant Gorka |url=https://pittenger.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/pittenger-statement-on-wh-deputy-assistant-gorka |access-date=2017-02-27}}</ref> Retired Army Lt. Gen. [[Charles T. Cleveland]] said of Gorka that: "his instruction was crisp, relevant, and a useful part of their education on how to think about today's threats, especially terrorism."<ref name="The Washington Free Beacon">{{Cite news|url=http://freebeacon.com/national-security/white-house-counterterror-adviser-media-attacks-latest-theater-battle/|title=For White House Counterterror Adviser, Media Attacks Are Latest Theater of Battle|last=Gertz|first=Bill|date=27 February 2017|access-date=2017-02-27|newspaper=The Washington Free Beacon}}</ref>
Heritage Foundation national-security scholar [[James Carafano]] has praised Gorka for focusing on "the war of ideas," adding, "I think the notion that we can fight [radical Islamism] without discussing and referencing the religion is kind of ridiculous.<ref name=":0" /> Former U.S. Ambassador [[Alberto Fernandez (United States official)|Alberto Fernandez]] who headed the Obama-era State Department Center for Strategic Counterterrorism has said Gorka was a "good choice" for his White House role because "he has a more solid grasp of the ideological challenge than his NSC political appointee counterparties in the previous administration", <ref name=":0" /> [[Ilan Berman]]<ref name="Conservative Review">{{Cite news|last=Schachtel|first=Jordan |date=27 February 2017 |title=Meet the media's latest target for political destruction in Trump's White House: Dr. Sebastian Gorka |newspaper=Conservative Review |url=https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2017/02/meet-the-medias-latest-target-for-political-destruction-in-trumps-white-house-dr-sebastian-gorka |access-date=2017-02-27}}</ref> and [[Zuhdi Jasser]].<ref name="Business Insider">{{Cite news|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/sebastian-gorka-right-wing-national-security-experts-white-house-2017-3|title=Experts previously on the fringes of the national-security community are now helping craft policy in the White House|last=Engel|first=Pamela|date=4 March 2017|access-date=2017-03-05|newspaper=Business Insider}}</ref> Congressman [[Robert Pittenger]] defended Gorka, stating that Gorka "is a friend and trusted adviser on efforts to combat radical Islamic terrorism."<ref name="Media Center, US Congressman Robert Pittenger">{{Cite news|title=Pittenger statement on WH Deputy Assistant Gorka |url=https://pittenger.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/pittenger-statement-on-wh-deputy-assistant-gorka |access-date=2017-02-27}}</ref> Retired Army Lt. Gen. [[Charles T. Cleveland]] said of Gorka that: "his instruction was crisp, relevant, and a useful part of their education on how to think about today's threats, especially terrorism."<ref name="The Washington Free Beacon">{{Cite news|url=http://freebeacon.com/national-security/white-house-counterterror-adviser-media-attacks-latest-theater-battle/|title=For White House Counterterror Adviser, Media Attacks Are Latest Theater of Battle|last=Gertz|first=Bill|date=27 February 2017|access-date=2017-02-27|newspaper=The Washington Free Beacon}}</ref>
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Stephen Walt, a professor of international affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, has stated his reservations about Gorka influencing policy in the White House, saying; "Gorka does not have much of a reputation in serious academic or policymaking circles. He has never published any scholarship of significance and his views on Islam and US national security are extreme even by Washington standards. His only real 'qualification' was his prior association with Breitbart News, which would be a demerit in any other administration."<ref name="Security aide">{{Cite news|url=http://uk.businessinsider.com/sebastian-gorka-trump-bio-profile-2017-2|title=New national security aide is widely disdained within his own field|date=2017-02-22|newspaper=Business Insider}}</ref>
Stephen Walt, a professor of international affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, has stated his reservations about Gorka influencing policy in the White House, saying; "Gorka does not have much of a reputation in serious academic or policymaking circles. He has never published any scholarship of significance and his views on Islam and US national security are extreme even by Washington standards. His only real 'qualification' was his prior association with Breitbart News, which would be a demerit in any other administration."<ref name="Security aide">{{Cite news|url=http://uk.businessinsider.com/sebastian-gorka-trump-bio-profile-2017-2|title=New national security aide is widely disdained within his own field|date=2017-02-22|newspaper=Business Insider}}</ref>


According to [[BuzzFeed]], Gorka - because of his ties to the British Intelligence - was unable to obtain a security clearance to work in the Hungarian Parliament. <ref name="BuzzFeed">{{Cite news|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/mitchprothero/how-a-trump-adviser-failed-upwards-from-hungary-to-the|title=The Hungarian Rise And Fall Of Sebastian Gorka|last=Prothero|first=Mitch|date=2017-04-26|newspaper=BuzzFeed News}}</ref>
According to [[BuzzFeed]], Gorka was unable to obtain a security clearance to work in the Hungarian Parliament. The same article describes him as being viewed in Hungary as a peddler of snake oil and a self-promoter.<ref name="BuzzFeed">{{Cite news|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/mitchprothero/how-a-trump-adviser-failed-upwards-from-hungary-to-the|title=The Hungarian Rise And Fall Of Sebastian Gorka|last=Prothero|first=Mitch|date=2017-04-26|newspaper=BuzzFeed News}}</ref>


===Views on Islam===
===Views on Islam===
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Others have noted additional nuance in Gorka's views about Islam. Freelance investigative journalist [[Richard Miniter]] attests that Gorka "has been emphatic that the enemy is not Islam" and that "there is an ideological war among Muslims, a small fraction of which side with al Qaeda and its ilk against the vast majority of Muslims, who are among the terrorists’ most numerous victims."<ref name="Forbes">{{Cite news|last=Miniter|first=Richard |date=28 February 2017 |title=Journalists Beware: Your War On Sebastian Gorka Is Only Hurting You |newspaper=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardminiter/2017/02/28/journalists-beware-your-jihad-on-sebastian-gorka-is-only-hurting-you/2/#187127703368 |access-date=2017-03-01}}</ref> [[Andrew C. McCarthy]] says "The notion that he is racist, 'Islamophobic' (as opposed to anti-jihadist), or uninformed is absurd."<ref name="nr170301">{{cite news|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/445342/sebastian-gorka-counterterrorism-adviser-trump-administration-not-extremist|title=The Swamp Takes Aim at Seb Gorka|date=March 1, 2017|work=National Review|author=Andrew C. McCarthy}}</ref> McCarthy, a [[columnist]] for the ''[[National Review]],'' describes Gorka’s ''Defeating Jihad'' as a good "primer on the Islamic doctrinal and scholarly roots of jihadist terror," particularly "[[takfiri]] jihad" targeting fellow Muslims. Gorka believes that the jihadi threat is an ideological one that has to be addressed in manners similar to past totalitarian ideologies of the Cold War.<ref name="Business Insider" /><ref name="The Sunday Times">{{cite news|url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/when-the-liberal-media-call-trump-sends-in-his-ealing-rottweiler-3pl2jrmmf|title=When the liberal media call, Trump sends in his Ealing rottweiler|date=March 5, 2017|work=The Sunday Times|author=Toby Harnden}}</ref> According to him, it is crucial to empower Muslim allies, as this is a battle within Islam.<ref name="nr170301" />
Others have noted additional nuance in Gorka's views about Islam. Freelance investigative journalist [[Richard Miniter]] attests that Gorka "has been emphatic that the enemy is not Islam" and that "there is an ideological war among Muslims, a small fraction of which side with al Qaeda and its ilk against the vast majority of Muslims, who are among the terrorists’ most numerous victims."<ref name="Forbes">{{Cite news|last=Miniter|first=Richard |date=28 February 2017 |title=Journalists Beware: Your War On Sebastian Gorka Is Only Hurting You |newspaper=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardminiter/2017/02/28/journalists-beware-your-jihad-on-sebastian-gorka-is-only-hurting-you/2/#187127703368 |access-date=2017-03-01}}</ref> [[Andrew C. McCarthy]] says "The notion that he is racist, 'Islamophobic' (as opposed to anti-jihadist), or uninformed is absurd."<ref name="nr170301">{{cite news|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/445342/sebastian-gorka-counterterrorism-adviser-trump-administration-not-extremist|title=The Swamp Takes Aim at Seb Gorka|date=March 1, 2017|work=National Review|author=Andrew C. McCarthy}}</ref> McCarthy, a [[columnist]] for the ''[[National Review]],'' describes Gorka’s ''Defeating Jihad'' as a good "primer on the Islamic doctrinal and scholarly roots of jihadist terror," particularly "[[takfiri]] jihad" targeting fellow Muslims. Gorka believes that the jihadi threat is an ideological one that has to be addressed in manners similar to past totalitarian ideologies of the Cold War.<ref name="Business Insider" /><ref name="The Sunday Times">{{cite news|url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/when-the-liberal-media-call-trump-sends-in-his-ealing-rottweiler-3pl2jrmmf|title=When the liberal media call, Trump sends in his Ealing rottweiler|date=March 5, 2017|work=The Sunday Times|author=Toby Harnden}}</ref> According to him, it is crucial to empower Muslim allies, as this is a battle within Islam.<ref name="nr170301" />


===The Order of Vitéz===
===The Historical Order of Vitéz===
''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' reporter [[Maggie Haberman]] wrote in April 2017 that Gorka "has been accused of having links to far-right groups in Europe."<ref name=":8" /> ''Guardian'' newspaper staff have accused Gorka of sympathizing with the genocide carried out by the 1930s and 1940s regime of [[Nazi Germany]] due to his father's membership in the Hungarian Historical Order of Vitéz.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/01/sebastian-gorka-to-leave-white-house-amid-accusations-of-links-to-far-right|title=Sebastian Gorka to leave White House amid accusations of links to far-right|last=staff|first=Guardian|date=2017-05-01|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-05-01|last2=agencies|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' reporter [[Maggie Haberman]] wrote in April 2017 that Gorka "has been accused of having links to far-right groups in Europe."<ref name=":8" /> ''Guardian'' newspaper staff have accused Gorka of sympathizing with the genocide carried out by the 1930s and 1940s regime of [[Nazi Germany]] due to his father's membership in the Hungarian Historical Order of Vitéz.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/01/sebastian-gorka-to-leave-white-house-amid-accusations-of-links-to-far-right|title=Sebastian Gorka to leave White House amid accusations of links to far-right|last=staff|first=Guardian|date=2017-05-01|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-05-01|last2=agencies|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

The [[Order of Vitéz]] was a Hungarian [[order of merit]] founded in 1920 to reward heroic soldiers. It entitled the bearer to the title ''vitéz'', as well as a grant of land. The title was inheritable, passing from father to son. Like all such orders in Hungary, it was disbanded at the end of [[World War II]]. Since then a number of private associations have worked to restore the order. The most notable of these is the [[Order_of_Vitéz#The_Order_of_Vit.C3.A9z_private_associations_in_the_postwar_era | Historical Order of Vitéz]]. This Order granted Gorka's father, Paul Gorka, their title in 1979 in recognition of his resistance to the post-war [[Soviet occupation of Hungary]].<ref name="CRCE">{{cite web|last1=v. Gorka|first1=Sebestyén|title=The Hungarian Uprising: Fifty Years On|url=http://www.crce.org.uk/publications/hungarian-uprising/|website=www.crce.org.uk|publisher=Centre for Research into Post-Communist Economies [CRCE]|access-date=28 March 2017|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6pIN1F1Z2|archivedate=28 March 2017|deadurl=no}}</ref><ref name="Ht">{{cite web|last1=Szigeti|first1=Tom|title=Hungarian Trump Aide Sebastian Gorka and the Order of Vitéz 'Controversy'|url=http://hungarytoday.hu/news/hungarian-trump-aide-sebastian-gorka-order-vitez-controversy-67726|website=hungarytoday.hu|publisher=Hungary today|access-date=28 March 2017|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/6pIOFs9jl|archivedate=28 March 2017|deadurl=no}}</ref><ref name="H_28_03_2017">{{cite news|author1=[[The Forward]] and Lili Bayer and Larry Cohler-Esses|title=Elite Nazi-allied Order From Hungary Claims Trump Adviser Gorka Is a Sworn Member|url=http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.777720|access-date=28 March 2017|work=[[Haaretz]]|date=18 March 2017|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6pIP5ET1H|archivedate=28 March 2017|deadurl=no}}</ref>


Paul Gorka's memoir ''Budapest elárulva'' ("Budapest betrayed") identifies him on its cover as "v. Gorka Pál", where the "v" is an abbreviation for the title ''vitéz''.<ref name="SUL">{{cite web|last1=v. Gorka|first1=Pál|title=Budapest elárulva : egy volt politikai fogoly beszámolója hogyan árulták el a magyar ellenállási mozgalmat az oroszoknak|url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/2471995|website=searchworks.stanford.edu|publisher=Stanford Universities Library|access-date=28 March 2017}}</ref> Sebastian Gorka has adopted the title in this way in a number of his publications, notably his PhD thesis and his writings for the [[Gatestone Institute]].<ref name="PhD" /><ref name="GI" /> He also used the title in his June 2011 testimony before the [[House Armed Services Committee]].<ref name="HASC">{{cite web|last1=L. v. Gorka|first1=Sebastian|title=Testimony before the House Armed Services Committee|url=http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/GORKA-HASC-Testimony-FIN18JUN2011.pdf|access-date=28 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="H_28_03_2017" />
Paul Gorka's memoir ''Budapest elárulva'' ("Budapest betrayed") identifies him on its cover as "v. Gorka Pál", where the "v" is an abbreviation for the title ''vitéz''.<ref name="SUL">{{cite web|last1=v. Gorka|first1=Pál|title=Budapest elárulva : egy volt politikai fogoly beszámolója hogyan árulták el a magyar ellenállási mozgalmat az oroszoknak|url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/2471995|website=searchworks.stanford.edu|publisher=Stanford Universities Library|access-date=28 March 2017}}</ref> Sebastian Gorka has adopted the title in this way in a number of his publications, notably his PhD thesis and his writings for the [[Gatestone Institute]].<ref name="PhD" /><ref name="GI" /> He also used the title in his June 2011 testimony before the [[House Armed Services Committee]].<ref name="HASC">{{cite web|last1=L. v. Gorka|first1=Sebastian|title=Testimony before the House Armed Services Committee|url=http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/GORKA-HASC-Testimony-FIN18JUN2011.pdf|access-date=28 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="H_28_03_2017" />


In 2017 Gorka appeared on [[Fox News]] on the evening of the U.S. presidential inauguration wearing a badge and a ring of the Order of Vitéz.<ref name="timesofisrael.com">{{Cite news|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/top-trump-aide-wears-medal-of-hungarian-nazi-collaborators/|title=Top Trump aide wears medal of Hungarian Nazi collaborators|access-date=2017-02-14|language=en-US|newspaper=The Times of Israel}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://lobelog.com/why-is-trump-adviser-wearing-medal-of-nazi-collaborators/#comment-660296 |title=Why Is Trump Adviser Wearing Medal of Nazi Collaborators? |language=en |date=13 February 2017 |newspaper=LobeLog|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref>Despite the accusation, the tunic that Gorka wore was only a traditional Hungarian jacket, known as a ''bocskai''.<ref name="Kentish" /><ref name="Horthy" />{{refn|group=note|''a bocskai is a dignified, military, traditional garment, ornately braided''; a "nobleman's jacket" {{Cite book|first=Alexandra J. |last=Cutcher |chapter=Epilogue |title=Displacement, Identity, Belonging |publisher=Sense Publishers |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=GXy6CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA249 249] |url=https://books.google.hu/books?id=GXy6CAAAQBAJ }} and {{Cite book|title=The Exile and Return of Writers from East-Central Europe: A Compendium |editor-first=John |editor-last=Neubauer |editor2-first=Zsuzsanna |editor2-last=Borbála |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |page=[https://books.google.hu/books?id=j2PmEIYMsHUC&pg=PA372 372] |url=https://books.google.hu/books?id=j2PmEIYMsHUC }} }}
In 2017 Gorka appeared on [[Fox News]] on the evening of the U.S. presidential inauguration wearing a badge, tunic, and ring of the Order of Vitéz.<ref name="timesofisrael.com">{{Cite news|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/top-trump-aide-wears-medal-of-hungarian-nazi-collaborators/|title=Top Trump aide wears medal of Hungarian Nazi collaborators|access-date=2017-02-14|language=en-US|newspaper=The Times of Israel}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://lobelog.com/why-is-trump-adviser-wearing-medal-of-nazi-collaborators/#comment-660296 |title=Why Is Trump Adviser Wearing Medal of Nazi Collaborators? |language=en |date=13 February 2017 |newspaper=LobeLog|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref>


These reference to the Order of Vitez suggest that Gorka himself sympathizes with the Nazis.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/us/politics/dr-sebastian-gorka.html|title=Who Is Sebastian Gorka? A Trump Adviser Comes Out of the Shadows|last=Fortin |first=Jacey |date=2017-02-17|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2017-02-23 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Davies |first=Caroline |title='A fabulous press conference': who are Trump's British cheerleaders? |language=en-GB |date=2017-02-17|newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/17/a-fabulous-press-conference-who-are-trumps-british-cheerleaders?CMP=share_btn_tw |access-date=2017-02-23}}</ref><ref name="Kentish">{{Cite news|last=Kentish |first=Bob |date=15 February 2017 |title=Top Donald Trump aide defends wearing medal linked to Nazi sympathisers|language=en-GB |newspaper=The Independent |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-aide-sebastian-gorka-nazi-hungary-medal-vitezi-rend-fascists-a7581941.html |access-date=2017-02-23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2017/02/18/who-sebastian-gorka-primer-trump-adviser/TopimMI1pydn3KpzBAzZJK/story.html|last=Fortin |first=Jacey |title=Who is Sebastian Gorka? A Primer on the Trump Adviser |date=18 February 2017 |newspaper=Boston Globe |archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref>
The U.S. State Department lists the order among organizations having been "under the direction of the Nazi government of Germany" during World War II. <ref>{{Cite news|url=https://fam.state.gov/searchapps/viewer?format=html&query=vitezi&links=VITEZI&url=/FAM/09FAM/09FAM030207.html#M302_7_4_B_7|title=Organizations Under the Direction of the Nazi Government of Germany|last=|first=|date=November 18, 2015|access-date=July 25, 2017|archive-url=|archive-date=|newspaper=U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual and Handbook|deadurl=no}}</ref> This has given rise to claims that Gorka himself carries sympathy for the Nazis.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/us/politics/dr-sebastian-gorka.html|title=Who Is Sebastian Gorka? A Trump Adviser Comes Out of the Shadows|last=Fortin |first=Jacey |date=2017-02-17|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2017-02-23 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Davies |first=Caroline |title='A fabulous press conference': who are Trump's British cheerleaders? |language=en-GB |date=2017-02-17|newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/17/a-fabulous-press-conference-who-are-trumps-british-cheerleaders?CMP=share_btn_tw |access-date=2017-02-23}}</ref><ref name="Kentish">{{Cite news|last=Kentish |first=Bob |date=15 February 2017 |title=Top Donald Trump aide defends wearing medal linked to Nazi sympathisers|language=en-GB |newspaper=The Independent |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-aide-sebastian-gorka-nazi-hungary-medal-vitezi-rend-fascists-a7581941.html |access-date=2017-02-23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2017/02/18/who-sebastian-gorka-primer-trump-adviser/TopimMI1pydn3KpzBAzZJK/story.html|last=Fortin |first=Jacey |title=Who is Sebastian Gorka? A Primer on the Trump Adviser |date=18 February 2017 |newspaper=Boston Globe |archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref>


It is claimed that his father, Paul Gorka, was never a member of this order and received a "Vitéz" (literally: "valiant") medal from Hungarian exiles "for his resistance to dictatorship" in 1979.<ref name="Ht" /> Gorka himself stated that he wears this medal in remembrance of his father, who was awarded the decoration for his efforts to create an anti-communist, pro-democracy organization at the university he attended in Hungary.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Ruthie |last=Blum |date=February 16, 2017 |title=Top Trump Aide: Despite Resignation of National Security Adviser, Administration Committed to Flynn’s Staunch Stance on Iran |newspaper=The Algemeiner |url=https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/02/16/top-trump-aide-despite-resignation-of-national-security-adviser-administration-committed-to-flynns-staunch-stance-on-iran/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20170216221648/https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/02/16/top-trump-aide-despite-resignation-of-national-security-adviser-administration-committed-to-flynns-staunch-stance-on-iran/ |archive-date=February 16, 2017 |deadurl=no}}</ref> Robert Kerepeszki, Hungarian expert of the Order of Vitéz, has confirmed that there were ruptures in the organization of the Order of Vitéz on the question of Nazism during the war, many of them died fighting against [[Arrow Cross Party|Hungarian Nazis]], and Gorka's medal had nothing to do with the war period, but was awarded "for his resistance to dictatorship."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://valasz.hu/itthon/hogyan-ne-fasisztazzunk-122615 |last=Borbás |first=Barna |title=Hogyan NE fasisztázzunk? |language=hu |trans-title=How NOT to libel someone fascist |date=17 February 2017 |newspaper=[[Heti Válasz]]|access-date=2017-02-17}}</ref><ref name="Kentish" /><ref name="Horthy">{{Cite news |first=Tom |last=Szigeti |date=17 February 2017 |title=Hungarian Trump Aide Sebastian Gorka and the Order of Vitéz 'Controversy' |newspaper=Hungary Today |url=http://hungarytoday.hu/news/hungarian-trump-aide-sebastian-gorka-order-vitez-controversy-67726 }}</ref> The tunic that Gorka wore was a traditional Hungarian jacket, known as a ''bocskai''.<ref name="Kentish" /><ref name="Horthy" />{{refn|group=note|''a bocskai is a dignified, military, traditional garment, ornately braided''; a "nobleman's jacket" {{Cite book|first=Alexandra J. |last=Cutcher |chapter=Epilogue |title=Displacement, Identity, Belonging |publisher=Sense Publishers |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=GXy6CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA249 249] |url=https://books.google.hu/books?id=GXy6CAAAQBAJ }} and {{Cite book|title=The Exile and Return of Writers from East-Central Europe: A Compendium |editor-first=John |editor-last=Neubauer |editor2-first=Zsuzsanna |editor2-last=Borbála |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |page=[https://books.google.hu/books?id=j2PmEIYMsHUC&pg=PA372 372] |url=https://books.google.hu/books?id=j2PmEIYMsHUC }} }}
The [[Order of Vitéz]] was a Hungarian [[order of merit]] founded in 1920 to reward heroic soldiers. It entitled the bearer to the title ''vitéz'', as well as a grant of land. The title was inheritable, passing from father to son. The U.S. State Department lists this Order among organizations having been "under the direction of the Nazi government of Germany" during World War II. <ref>{{Cite news|url=https://fam.state.gov/searchapps/viewer?format=html&query=vitezi&links=VITEZI&url=/FAM/09FAM/09FAM030207.html#M302_7_4_B_7|title=Organizations Under the Direction of the Nazi Government of Germany|last=|first=|date=November 18, 2015|access-date=July 25, 2017|archive-url=|archive-date=|newspaper=U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual and Handbook|deadurl=no}}</ref> Like all such orders in Hungary, it was disbanded at the end of [[World War II]].

Since then a number of private associations have worked to restore the order. The most notable of these is the [[Order_of_Vitéz#The_Order_of_Vit.C3.A9z_private_associations_in_the_postwar_era | Historical Order of Vitéz]]. Gorka's father, Paul Gorka, could never be a member of the original Order, since he was only 16 years old, when it was dissolved.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Crilly|first1=Rob|title=Donald-Trump-aide-Sebastian-Gorka-denies-denies claims he was sworn member of Hungarian group with Nazi past|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/19/donald-trump-aide-sebastian-gorka-denies-claims-has-links-hungarian/|website=telegraph.co.uk|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=16 August 2017}}</ref> The Historical Order of Vitéz granted Paul Gorka, a "Vitéz" (literally: "valiant") medal in 1979 in recognition of his resistance to the post-war [[Soviet occupation of Hungary]].<ref name="CRCE">{{cite web|last1=v. Gorka|first1=Sebestyén|title=The Hungarian Uprising: Fifty Years On|url=http://www.crce.org.uk/publications/hungarian-uprising/|website=www.crce.org.uk|publisher=Centre for Research into Post-Communist Economies [CRCE]|access-date=28 March 2017|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6pIN1F1Z2|archivedate=28 March 2017|deadurl=no}}</ref><ref name="Ht">{{cite web|last1=Szigeti|first1=Tom|title=Hungarian Trump Aide Sebastian Gorka and the Order of Vitéz 'Controversy'|url=http://hungarytoday.hu/news/hungarian-trump-aide-sebastian-gorka-order-vitez-controversy-67726|website=hungarytoday.hu|publisher=Hungary today|access-date=28 March 2017|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/6pIOFs9jl|archivedate=28 March 2017|deadurl=no}}</ref><ref name="H_28_03_2017">{{cite news|author1=[[The Forward]] and Lili Bayer and Larry Cohler-Esses|title=Elite Nazi-allied Order From Hungary Claims Trump Adviser Gorka Is a Sworn Member|url=http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.777720|access-date=28 March 2017|work=[[Haaretz]]|date=18 March 2017|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6pIP5ET1H|archivedate=28 March 2017|deadurl=no}}</ref>

Sebastian Gorka himself stated that he wears this medal in remembrance of his father, who was awarded the decoration for his efforts to create an anti-communist, pro-democracy organization at the university he attended in Hungary.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Ruthie |last=Blum |date=February 16, 2017 |title=Top Trump Aide: Despite Resignation of National Security Adviser, Administration Committed to Flynn’s Staunch Stance on Iran |newspaper=The Algemeiner |url=https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/02/16/top-trump-aide-despite-resignation-of-national-security-adviser-administration-committed-to-flynns-staunch-stance-on-iran/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20170216221648/https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/02/16/top-trump-aide-despite-resignation-of-national-security-adviser-administration-committed-to-flynns-staunch-stance-on-iran/ |archive-date=February 16, 2017 |deadurl=no}}</ref> Robert Kerepeszki, Hungarian expert of the Order of Vitéz, has confirmed that there were ruptures in the organization of the original interwar Order of Vitéz on the question of Nazism during the war, many of them died fighting against [[Arrow Cross Party|Hungarian Nazis]], and Gorka's medal had nothing to do with the war period, but was awarded "for his resistance to dictatorship."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://valasz.hu/itthon/hogyan-ne-fasisztazzunk-122615 |last=Borbás |first=Barna |title=Hogyan NE fasisztázzunk? |language=hu |trans-title=How NOT to libel someone fascist |date=17 February 2017 |newspaper=[[Heti Válasz]]|access-date=2017-02-17}}</ref><ref name="Kentish" /><ref name="Horthy">{{Cite news |first=Tom |last=Szigeti |date=17 February 2017 |title=Hungarian Trump Aide Sebastian Gorka and the Order of Vitéz 'Controversy' |newspaper=Hungary Today |url=http://hungarytoday.hu/news/hungarian-trump-aide-sebastian-gorka-order-vitez-controversy-67726 }}</ref>


People who have worked with Gorka have said that he is not [[antisemitism|anti-Semitic]]. In February 2017 Congressman and [[Israel Allies Caucus]] Co-Chair [[Trent Franks]] called Gorka "the staunchest friend of Israel and the Jewish people."<ref name="Media Center, US Congressman Trent Franks">{{Cite news|title=Statement in Response to Media Attacks Against Dr. Sebastian Gorka |url=https://franks.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/statement-response-media-attacks-against-dr-sebastian-gorka |access-date=2017-02-27}}</ref> [[The Forward|''The Forward'']]''<nowiki/>'s'' Nathan Guttman responded to Franks' remarks with a statement that co-chair Franks "did not offer any evidence to refute the reports on Gorka’s ties with the Hungarian groups" the Hungarian National Committee and the New Democratic Coalition—as well as former members of [[Jobbik|Jobbik.]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://forward.com/fast-forward/364171/republican-congressman-calls-sebastian-gorka-an-american-patriot-despite-an/|title=Republican Congressman Calls Sebastian Gorka An ‘American Patriot’ — Despite Anti-Semitic Ties|work=The Forward|access-date=2017-02-28}}</ref>
People who have worked with Gorka have said that he is not [[antisemitism|anti-Semitic]]. In February 2017 Congressman and [[Israel Allies Caucus]] Co-Chair [[Trent Franks]] called Gorka "the staunchest friend of Israel and the Jewish people."<ref name="Media Center, US Congressman Trent Franks">{{Cite news|title=Statement in Response to Media Attacks Against Dr. Sebastian Gorka |url=https://franks.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/statement-response-media-attacks-against-dr-sebastian-gorka |access-date=2017-02-27}}</ref> [[The Forward|''The Forward'']]''<nowiki/>'s'' Nathan Guttman responded to Franks' remarks with a statement that co-chair Franks "did not offer any evidence to refute the reports on Gorka’s ties with the Hungarian groups" the Hungarian National Committee and the New Democratic Coalition—as well as former members of [[Jobbik|Jobbik.]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://forward.com/fast-forward/364171/republican-congressman-calls-sebastian-gorka-an-american-patriot-despite-an/|title=Republican Congressman Calls Sebastian Gorka An ‘American Patriot’ — Despite Anti-Semitic Ties|work=The Forward|access-date=2017-02-28}}</ref>
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Democratic Senators [[Ben Cardin]], [[Dick Durbin]] and [[Richard Blumenthal]] sent a letter to the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security requesting that the DHS look into whether Gorka "illegally procured his citizenship" by omitting membership in Historical Vitézi Rend, which could have been grounds for keeping him out of the country.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/03/17/democratic-senators-call-investigation-into-trump-aide-sebastian-gorka/99320230/|title=Democratic senators call for investigation into Trump aide Sebastian Gorka|work=USA TODAY|access-date=2017-03-17|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite news|url=http://forward.com/news/national/366181/exclusive-nazi-allied-group-claims-top-trump-aide-sebastian-gorka-as-sworn/|title=EXCLUSIVE: Nazi-Allied Group Claims Top Trump Aide Sebastian Gorka As Sworn Member|work=The Forward|access-date=2017-03-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/324404-dem-rep-asks-white-house-for-sebastian-gorkas-immigration|title=Dem rep asks White House for Sebastian Gorka's immigration papers|last=Greenwood|first=Max|date=2017-03-16|work=TheHill|access-date=2017-03-17}}</ref>
Democratic Senators [[Ben Cardin]], [[Dick Durbin]] and [[Richard Blumenthal]] sent a letter to the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security requesting that the DHS look into whether Gorka "illegally procured his citizenship" by omitting membership in Historical Vitézi Rend, which could have been grounds for keeping him out of the country.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/03/17/democratic-senators-call-investigation-into-trump-aide-sebastian-gorka/99320230/|title=Democratic senators call for investigation into Trump aide Sebastian Gorka|work=USA TODAY|access-date=2017-03-17|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite news|url=http://forward.com/news/national/366181/exclusive-nazi-allied-group-claims-top-trump-aide-sebastian-gorka-as-sworn/|title=EXCLUSIVE: Nazi-Allied Group Claims Top Trump Aide Sebastian Gorka As Sworn Member|work=The Forward|access-date=2017-03-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/324404-dem-rep-asks-white-house-for-sebastian-gorkas-immigration|title=Dem rep asks White House for Sebastian Gorka's immigration papers|last=Greenwood|first=Max|date=2017-03-16|work=TheHill|access-date=2017-03-17}}</ref>

Gorka denied that he is a sworn member of any Nazi-linked group.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Crilly|first1=Rob|title=Donald-Trump-aide-Sebastian-Gorka-denies-denies claims he was sworn member of Hungarian group with Nazi past|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/19/donald-trump-aide-sebastian-gorka-denies-claims-has-links-hungarian/|website=telegraph.co.uk|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=16 August 2017}}</ref>


===Support for the Hungarian Guard===
===Support for the Hungarian Guard===
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==Marriage to Katharine Gorka==
==Marriage to Katharine Gorka==
Gorka is married to [[Pennsylvania]] native '''Katharine Fairfax Cornell'''.<ref name="wed"/> She graduated from the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]],<ref name="wed"/> before earning a Master's Degree from the [[London School of Economics]] in the early 1990s. Sebastian met her in [[Romania]] in 1994.<ref name="B&C">Bender, Bryan and Crowley, Michael (February 13, 2017), "[http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-national-security-gorka-234950 The husband-and-wife team driving Trump's national security policy]," [[Politico]]. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref> They married in [[Hungary]]'s [[St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church]] in [[Sopron]] in 1996. At the time, she was the regional director of the [[National Forum Foundation]].<ref name="wed">(July 7, 1996), "[http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/07/style/weddings-katharine-cornell-sebestyen-gorka.html WEDDINGS;Katharine Cornell, Sebestyen Gorka]," [[The New York Times]]. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref> In 2003, she and her husband founded the Institute for Transitional Democracy and International Security in [[Budapest, Hungary]].<ref>"[http://www.itdis.org/about-itdis About ITDIS]," ITDIS.org. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref><ref name="for">Bayer, Lili (March 15, 2017), "[http://forward.com/news/national/366248/how-sebastian-gorka-catapulted-from-far-right-obscurity-in-hungary-to-the-w/ How Sebastian Gorka Catapulted From Far-Right Obscurity In Hungary to the White House]," [[The Forward]]. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref> In 2009, she was the executive director of [[The Westminster Institute]], a [[think tank]] that focused on threats from extremism and radical ideologies.<ref>"[https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/biography/Katherine+Cornell+Gorka Katherine Cornell Gorka]", Gatestone Institute. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref> In March 2016, she became the foreign policy advisor to Republican presidential candidate [[Ted Cruz]].<ref name="for"/>
{{off-topic|Katharine Gorka}}
Gorka is married to [[Pennsylvania]] native '''Katharine Fairfax Cornell'''.<ref name="wed"/> She graduated from the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]],<ref name="wed"/> before earning a Master's Degree from the [[London School of Economics]] in the early 1990s. Sebastian met her in [[Romania]] in 1994.<ref name="B&C">Bender, Bryan and Crowley, Michael (February 13, 2017), "[http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-national-security-gorka-234950 The husband-and-wife team driving Trump's national security policy]," [[Politico]]. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref> They married in [[Hungary]]'s [[St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church]] in [[Sopron]] in 1996. At the time, she was the regional director of the [[National Forum Foundation]].<ref name="wed">(July 7, 1996), "[http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/07/style/weddings-katharine-cornell-sebestyen-gorka.html WEDDINGS;Katharine Cornell, Sebestyen Gorka]," [[The New York Times]]. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref> In 2003, she and her husband founded the Institute for Transitional Democracy and International Security in [[Budapest, Hungary]].<ref>"[http://www.itdis.org/about-itdis About ITDIS]," ITDIS.org. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref><ref name="for">Bayer, Lili (March 15, 2017), "[http://forward.com/news/national/366248/how-sebastian-gorka-catapulted-from-far-right-obscurity-in-hungary-to-the-w/ How Sebastian Gorka Catapulted From Far-Right Obscurity In Hungary to the White House]," [[The Forward]]. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref> From 2009 to 2014, she was the executive director of [[The Westminster Institute]], a [[think tank]] that focused on threats from extremism and radical ideologies. [[Robert R. Reilly]] is now the director of the Institute.<ref>{{cite web|title=Westminster Institute|url=http://www.westminster-institute.org/about/}}</ref>
<ref>"[https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/biography/Katherine+Cornell+Gorka Katherine Cornell Gorka]", Gatestone Institute. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref> In March 2016, she became the foreign policy advisor to Republican presidential candidate [[Ted Cruz]].<ref name="for"/>


On November 29, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump chose Katharine to be part of his "landing team" tasked with meeting President [[Barack Obama]]'s officials at the [[United States Department of Homeland Security|Department of Homeland Security]] (DHS),<ref>Emmons, Alex and Fang, Lee (November 30, 2016), "[https://theintercept.com/2016/11/30/katie-gorka-trump/ Anti-Muslim Activist Katharine Gorka Named to Homeland Security Transition Team]," [[The Intercept]]. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref> an agency she had publically criticized in the past through articles on [[Breitbart News]] and other outlets.<ref>Bowden, John (May 23, 2017), "[http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/334786-dhs-hires-wife-of-trump-terror-adviser-to-temporary-post DHS hires Gorka's wife for top advisory role]," [[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref> During this period, she told DHS officials in charge of the [[Countering Violent Extremism Task Force]] (CVE) that it would likely be renamed "Countering Radical Islam" or "Countering Violent Jihad".<ref>Crowley, Michael (December 20, 2016), "[http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/donald-trump-terrorism-232870 Trump’s terror-fighting team yet to take shape]," [[Politico]]. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref> She became a policy advisor at DHS on April 7, 2017.<ref name="B&C"/><ref>Clifton, Eli (August 15, 2017), "[http://lobelog.com/sebastian-gorkas-long-history-of-denying-the-right-wing-terrorism-threat/ Sebastian Gorka’s Long History of Denying the Right Wing Terrorism Threat]," Lobe Log. Retrieved August 18, 2017</ref> Because of Katherine's openness about her anti-[[Islam]] views, her role in the administration has been controversial.<ref name="HP"/> Along with President [[Donald Trump]] aides, she worked to eliminate a CEV [[Grant (money)|grant]] to [[Life After Hate]], a group that opposes [[white supremacy]]. When the list of new CEV grant recipients was released June 23, 2017, Life After Hate was not included. This decision drew significant attention when a 20 year-old white supremacist attacked a group protesting the [[Unite the Right rally]] less than two months later, killing one.<ref name="HP">Schulberg, Jessica (August 15, 2017), "[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/katharine-gorka-life-after-hate_us_59921356e4b09096429943b6 Controversial Trump Aide Katharine Gorka Helped End Funding For Group That Fights White Supremacy]," [[Huffington Post]]. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref>
On November 29, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump chose Katharine to be part of his "landing team" tasked with meeting President [[Barack Obama]]'s officials at the [[United States Department of Homeland Security|Department of Homeland Security]] (DHS),<ref>Emmons, Alex and Fang, Lee (November 30, 2016), "[https://theintercept.com/2016/11/30/katie-gorka-trump/ Anti-Muslim Activist Katharine Gorka Named to Homeland Security Transition Team]," [[The Intercept]]. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref> an agency she had publically criticized in the past through articles on [[Breitbart News]] and other outlets.<ref>Bowden, John (May 23, 2017), "[http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/334786-dhs-hires-wife-of-trump-terror-adviser-to-temporary-post DHS hires Gorka's wife for top advisory role]," [[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref> During this period, she told DHS officials in charge of the [[Countering Violent Extremism Task Force]] (CVE) that it would likely be renamed "Countering Radical Islam" or "Countering Violent Jihad".<ref>Crowley, Michael (December 20, 2016), "[http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/donald-trump-terrorism-232870 Trump’s terror-fighting team yet to take shape]," [[Politico]]. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref> She became a policy advisor at DHS on April 7, 2017.<ref name="B&C"/><ref>Clifton, Eli (August 15, 2017), "[http://lobelog.com/sebastian-gorkas-long-history-of-denying-the-right-wing-terrorism-threat/ Sebastian Gorka’s Long History of Denying the Right Wing Terrorism Threat]," Lobe Log. Retrieved August 18, 2017</ref> Because of Katherine's openness about her anti-[[Islam]] views, her role in the administration has been controversial.<ref name="HP"/> Along with President [[Donald Trump]] aides, she worked to eliminate a CEV [[Grant (money)|grant]] to [[Life After Hate]], a group that opposes [[white supremacy]]. When the list of new CEV grant recipients was released June 23, 2017, Life After Hate was not included. This decision drew significant attention when a 20 year-old white supremacist attacked a group protesting the [[Unite the Right rally]] less than two months later, killing one.<ref name="HP">Schulberg, Jessica (August 15, 2017), "[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/katharine-gorka-life-after-hate_us_59921356e4b09096429943b6 Controversial Trump Aide Katharine Gorka Helped End Funding For Group That Fights White Supremacy]," [[Huffington Post]]. Retrieved August 15, 2017</ref>

Revision as of 23:50, 16 August 2017

Sebastian Gorka
Deputy Assistant to the President
Assumed office
January 20, 2017
PresidentDonald Trump
Personal details
Born
Sebastian Lukács Gorka

(1970-10-22) October 22, 1970 (age 53)
London, England, UK
Political partyRepublican
SpouseKatharine Cornell
EducationSt Benedict's School, Ealing
Alma materHeythrop College, University of London (BA)
Corvinus University (MA, PhD)

Sebastian Lukács Gorka (Hungarian: Gorka Sebestyén Lukács; born October 22, 1970[1]) is an American military and intelligence analyst. He serves as a deputy assistant to President of the United States Donald Trump. Gorka was born in the United Kingdom to Hungarian parents, lived in Hungary from 1992 to 2008, and in 2012 became a naturalized American citizen.[2]

Gorka has written for a variety of publications, is generally considered politically conservative[3][4] and has ties to the alt-right.[5][6][7][8][9]

Various national security scholars in academic and policymaking circles have characterized Gorka as fringe. Some critics have challenged his academic credentials, his views on Islam and radicalization—as well as his motives for identifying with the Order of Vitéz or supporting the EU-banned anti-Roma and anti-Semitic Hungarian Guard.

Gorka has given a series of combative interviews with the press in which he has defended the Trump administration's positions on national security and foreign policy. He has referred to himself as "the President's pitbull."[10]

Early life and education

Gorka was born in Hammersmith, London, on October 22, 1970, to Zsuzsa (Susan) Biro and Pál (Paul) Gorka. They had fled to the United Kingdom from Hungary after the failed 1956 uprising.[11][12] He attended St Benedict's School in west London, and received a lower second-class honours (2:2) Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and theology from Heythrop College, of the University of London.[13][12][14][15] While at university, he joined the British Territorial Army, serving for three years in the 22 Intelligence Company of the Intelligence and Security Group (Volunteers), an interrogation unit with a NATO role specializing in Russian and other languages supporting 1 (BR) Corps until the latter was disbanded in 1992, at the end of the Cold War.[16][12][17][18]

In 1992, he moved to Hungary, where he worked for the Hungarian Ministry of Defence[19] while studying for a master's degree in international relations and diplomacy at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration, now known as the Corvinus University, which he completed in 1997. In 1997, he was a Partnership for Peace International research fellow at the NATO Defense College in Rome.[20] Gorka was a Kokkalis Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University during the 1998–1999 academic year.[21][22]

In 1998, Gorka served as an adviser to Viktor Orbán.[23] In 2002, he entered the political science doctoral program at Corvinus University, completing his dissertation in 2007.[2][24] Gorka is a naturalized American citizen.[25]

Career

Gorka worked in the Hungarian Ministry of Defense during the prime ministership of József Antall.[26]

Following the September 11 attacks, Gorka became a public figure in Hungary as a television counterterrorism expert. This led to his being asked in 2002 to serve as an official expert on the parliamentary investigatory committee created to uncover the Communist background of the new Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy. Medgyessy had acted as a counterespionage officer for the Ministry of Internal Affairs prior to 1989.[27] Gorka rejected Medgyessy's claims of having not spied on people when he was a secret policeman.[28] Gorka failed to obtain the necessary security clearance from the Constitution Protection Office to serve on the committee, apparently because he was widely regarded as a spy working for British counterintelligence. Gorka defended himself against the charge by saying his service in the British army was merely as a uniformed member of its counterterrorist unit, tasked with assessing threats from groups such as the IRA.[2][18]

In 2004, Gorka became an adjunct to the faculty of the new US initiative for the Program for Terrorism and Security Studies (PTSS), a Defense Department-funded program based in the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. At the same time Gorka became an adjunct to USSOCOM's Joint Special Operations University, MacDill Air Force Base. He and his family relocated to the United States in 2008. He was hired as administrative dean at the National Defense University, Fort McNair, Washington D.C. Two years later, he began to lecture part-time for the ASD(SOLIC)-funded Masters Program in Irregular Warfare and Counterterrorism as part of the Combating Terrorism Fellowship Program but remained in a largely administrative role.[29] In 2014 Gorka assumed the privately endowed Major General Horner Distinguished Chair of Military Theory at the Marine Corps University Foundation.[3] In August 2016, he joined The Institute of World Politics, a private institution, on a full-time basis as Professor of Strategy and Irregular Warfare and Vice President for National Security Support.[30] He is on the advisory board of the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs (CENSA).[31]

Between 2009 and 2011 Gorka wrote for the Hudson Institute of New York (now Gatestone Institute).[32] Between 2011 and 2013, Gorka was an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy.[12] From 2014 to 2016, Gorka was an editor for national security affairs for the Breitbart News Network,[33] where he worked for Stephen K. Bannon.[34]

Trump administration

Gorka on a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February 2017

In January 2017, Gorka assumed the position of deputy assistant to the president in the Trump administration.[23][35] He was a member of a White House team known as the Strategic Initiatives Group, which was set up by Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner.[35] According to an Associated Press report, by February 2017, Gorka did not have appropriate security clearance.[36] Questions were raised as to what the precise roles and duties of Gorka were within the Trump administration.[37][38]

In April 2017, The Washington Examiner reported that Gorka was planning to leave his role at the White House;[39] however, in May 2017 The Daily Beast reported that President Trump and Steve Bannon had asked him to remain.[40]

Controversy

Sebastian Gorka's mother Susan worked as a translator with David Irving, the discredited historian described by a judge as a "Holocaust denier … anti-Semitic and racist, and that he associates with right-wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism".[41]

Credentials

Gorka has been characterized as a fringe figure in academic and policy-making circles.[3][4][42][43][44][13][45][46][47][48] Business Insider Politics Editor Pamela Engel has described Gorka as being "widely disdained within his own field."[4][49]

A number of academics and policymakers have questioned Gorka's knowledge of foreign policy issues, his academic credentials and his professional behavior.[3][4][42][43][44][50][51][52][45][48][47] Andrew Reynolds, political science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, questioned the validity of Gorka's PhD, noting discrepancies between how doctorates are normally awarded and how Gorka's was awarded.[45] Reynolds said that the evaluations of each referee on Gorka's PhD committee was "a page of generalized comments – completely at odds with the detailed substantive and methodological evaluations that I've seen at every Ph.D defence I've been on over the last twenty years."[45] According to Reynolds, that two of the three referees only had BA degrees, and one of the referees had published with Gorka previously breached conventional academic practices.[45] The only individual on the committee who is currently in possession of a PhD is György Schöpflin. Reynolds described Schöpflin as "an extreme right wing Hungarian Member of the European Parliament who recently advocated putting pigs heads on a fence on the Hungarian border to keep out Muslims."[45] The journal Terrorism and Political Violence has never used Gorka as a reviewer because, according to the associate editor, he "is not considered a terrorism expert by the academic or policy community.”[53] In August 2017, Gorka falsely asserted that the Obama administration "invented" the term "lone-wolf terrorism", when in fact the term had been widely used in the academic literature, media and by governments long before Obama took office.[54] Responding to his academic critics, Gorka stated that there has been an ongoing "proxy war" and that others were attacking him as a way to attack President Trump.[55]

Heritage Foundation national-security scholar James Carafano has praised Gorka for focusing on "the war of ideas," adding, "I think the notion that we can fight [radical Islamism] without discussing and referencing the religion is kind of ridiculous.[4] Former U.S. Ambassador Alberto Fernandez who headed the Obama-era State Department Center for Strategic Counterterrorism has said Gorka was a "good choice" for his White House role because "he has a more solid grasp of the ideological challenge than his NSC political appointee counterparties in the previous administration", [4] Ilan Berman[56] and Zuhdi Jasser.[57] Congressman Robert Pittenger defended Gorka, stating that Gorka "is a friend and trusted adviser on efforts to combat radical Islamic terrorism."[58] Retired Army Lt. Gen. Charles T. Cleveland said of Gorka that: "his instruction was crisp, relevant, and a useful part of their education on how to think about today's threats, especially terrorism."[59]

Stephen Walt, a professor of international affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, has stated his reservations about Gorka influencing policy in the White House, saying; "Gorka does not have much of a reputation in serious academic or policymaking circles. He has never published any scholarship of significance and his views on Islam and US national security are extreme even by Washington standards. His only real 'qualification' was his prior association with Breitbart News, which would be a demerit in any other administration."[60]

According to BuzzFeed, Gorka was unable to obtain a security clearance to work in the Hungarian Parliament. The same article describes him as being viewed in Hungary as a peddler of snake oil and a self-promoter.[61]

Views on Islam

Gorka's view on Islam and radicalization have drawn controversy.[62][63] Gorka sees Islamic terrorism as essentially ideologically motivated and rooted in a totalitarian religious mindset. In his view, violence is a "fundamental" part of Islam, and he rejects other scholars' assessments that Islamic militancy stems primarily from poverty, poor governance, and war.[62] He vigorously backs President Trump's executive order which temporarily banned immigration to the United States from seven predominantly Muslim countries, and Trump's usage of the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism."[3][64][65]

According to Washington Post reporter Greg Jaffe, "Most counterterrorism experts dismiss Gorka's ideas as a dangerous oversimplification that could alienate Muslim allies and boost support for terrorist groups ... Religious scholars are equally withering."[3]

Additionally, according to Jaffe, Gorka’s views "signal a radical break" from the discourse "defined by the city's Republican and Democratic foreign policy elite" of the last 16 years. For Gorka, "the terrorism problem has nothing to do with repression, alienation, torture, tribalism, poverty, or America’s foreign policy blunders and a messy and complex Middle East", but is rooted in Islam and the "martial parts" of the Koran.[3]

Former State Department Counterterrorism Coordinator Daniel Benjamin and former National Security Council Senior Director Steven Simon have taken issue with Gorka's claim that the Obama and Bush 43 administrations failed to understand the importance of ideology and they give a number of examples of how government analysts "going back nearly 40 years have examined ideology's role in Islamic militancy." They argue that by jettisoning the role of "poor governance, repression, poverty and war" and failing to realize that "religious doctrine is not their sole or even primary driver," Gorka has adopted an Islamophobic approach of finding "Islam as the problem, rather than the uses to which Islam has been put by violent extremists."[43]

Others have noted additional nuance in Gorka's views about Islam. Freelance investigative journalist Richard Miniter attests that Gorka "has been emphatic that the enemy is not Islam" and that "there is an ideological war among Muslims, a small fraction of which side with al Qaeda and its ilk against the vast majority of Muslims, who are among the terrorists’ most numerous victims."[66] Andrew C. McCarthy says "The notion that he is racist, 'Islamophobic' (as opposed to anti-jihadist), or uninformed is absurd."[67] McCarthy, a columnist for the National Review, describes Gorka’s Defeating Jihad as a good "primer on the Islamic doctrinal and scholarly roots of jihadist terror," particularly "takfiri jihad" targeting fellow Muslims. Gorka believes that the jihadi threat is an ideological one that has to be addressed in manners similar to past totalitarian ideologies of the Cold War.[57][68] According to him, it is crucial to empower Muslim allies, as this is a battle within Islam.[67]

The Historical Order of Vitéz

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman wrote in April 2017 that Gorka "has been accused of having links to far-right groups in Europe."[62] Guardian newspaper staff have accused Gorka of sympathizing with the genocide carried out by the 1930s and 1940s regime of Nazi Germany due to his father's membership in the Hungarian Historical Order of Vitéz.[69]

The Order of Vitéz was a Hungarian order of merit founded in 1920 to reward heroic soldiers. It entitled the bearer to the title vitéz, as well as a grant of land. The title was inheritable, passing from father to son. Like all such orders in Hungary, it was disbanded at the end of World War II. Since then a number of private associations have worked to restore the order. The most notable of these is the Historical Order of Vitéz. This Order granted Gorka's father, Paul Gorka, their title in 1979 in recognition of his resistance to the post-war Soviet occupation of Hungary.[70][71][72]

Paul Gorka's memoir Budapest elárulva ("Budapest betrayed") identifies him on its cover as "v. Gorka Pál", where the "v" is an abbreviation for the title vitéz.[73] Sebastian Gorka has adopted the title in this way in a number of his publications, notably his PhD thesis and his writings for the Gatestone Institute.[24][32] He also used the title in his June 2011 testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.[74][72]

In 2017 Gorka appeared on Fox News on the evening of the U.S. presidential inauguration wearing a badge, tunic, and ring of the Order of Vitéz.[75][76]

The U.S. State Department lists the order among organizations having been "under the direction of the Nazi government of Germany" during World War II. [77] This has given rise to claims that Gorka himself carries sympathy for the Nazis.[78][79][80][81]

It is claimed that his father, Paul Gorka, was never a member of this order and received a "Vitéz" (literally: "valiant") medal from Hungarian exiles "for his resistance to dictatorship" in 1979.[71] Gorka himself stated that he wears this medal in remembrance of his father, who was awarded the decoration for his efforts to create an anti-communist, pro-democracy organization at the university he attended in Hungary.[82] Robert Kerepeszki, Hungarian expert of the Order of Vitéz, has confirmed that there were ruptures in the organization of the Order of Vitéz on the question of Nazism during the war, many of them died fighting against Hungarian Nazis, and Gorka's medal had nothing to do with the war period, but was awarded "for his resistance to dictatorship."[83][80][84] The tunic that Gorka wore was a traditional Hungarian jacket, known as a bocskai.[80][84][note 1]

People who have worked with Gorka have said that he is not anti-Semitic. In February 2017 Congressman and Israel Allies Caucus Co-Chair Trent Franks called Gorka "the staunchest friend of Israel and the Jewish people."[85] The Forward's Nathan Guttman responded to Franks' remarks with a statement that co-chair Franks "did not offer any evidence to refute the reports on Gorka’s ties with the Hungarian groups" the Hungarian National Committee and the New Democratic Coalition—as well as former members of Jobbik.[86]

Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute has said Gorka "is about as anti-Semitic as [Israel Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. That is, not at all."[56] Tibor Navracsics, an EU commissioner, member of the Hungarian Fidesz political party and former colleague of Gorka, also defended Gorka, stating that Gorka "has spent his life battling fascists and anti-Semites of all sorts"[87]

Writing in the Jerusalem Post, Bruce Abramson and Jeff Ballabon argue that the Forward's articles are partisan attacks with no merit.[88] Sarah N. Stern, of the Endowment for Middle East Truth has called Gorka "a true friend to Israel and the Jewish people," adding, "It is folly to 'cry wolf' [about anti-Semitism] at a time like this, when there are already too many wolves in the fold."[89] Peter Beinart, writing in the Forward, says the evidence doesn't support the magazine's charges of antisemitism.[90]

On March 16, 2017, leaders of one of two successor organisations of the Vitézi Rend stated that Gorka was an official member of the Historical Vitézi Rend faction, to which he is said to have taken a lifelong oath of loyalty. Gorka denied the allegations.[91] The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, the National Jewish Democratic Council, and the Interfaith Alliance have called for Gorka's resignation over his ties to Hungarian far-right groups.[92] The Anti-Defamation League has asked Gorka to disavow the Hungarian National Committee and the New Democratic Coalition.[93]

Democratic Senators Ben Cardin, Dick Durbin and Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security requesting that the DHS look into whether Gorka "illegally procured his citizenship" by omitting membership in Historical Vitézi Rend, which could have been grounds for keeping him out of the country.[94][95][96]

Support for the Hungarian Guard

Statements of support for Gorka, which have challenged the description of him as an anti-semite all predated a 2017 story that connected him with another extreme far-right anti-semitic group. In a 2007 video, Gorka declared his support for the Magyar Gárda (Hungarian Guard), a paramilitary group described by various sources as neo-fascist and anti-semitic.[97] Gorka said that "because the country’s military is sick, and totally reflects the state of Hungarian society... This country cannot defend itself.” He also added, that “We support the establishment of the Hungarian Guard despite the personalities involved.”[98][99] The Guard was formally banned in Hungary two years after Gorka left the country, in 2009, which decision was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights, due to its racist activities.[100][101]

Marriage to Katharine Gorka

Gorka is married to Pennsylvania native Katharine Fairfax Cornell.[102] She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,[102] before earning a Master's Degree from the London School of Economics in the early 1990s. Sebastian met her in Romania in 1994.[103] They married in Hungary's St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church in Sopron in 1996. At the time, she was the regional director of the National Forum Foundation.[102] In 2003, she and her husband founded the Institute for Transitional Democracy and International Security in Budapest, Hungary.[104][105] In 2009, she was the executive director of The Westminster Institute, a think tank that focused on threats from extremism and radical ideologies.[106] In March 2016, she became the foreign policy advisor to Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz.[105]

On November 29, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump chose Katharine to be part of his "landing team" tasked with meeting President Barack Obama's officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),[107] an agency she had publically criticized in the past through articles on Breitbart News and other outlets.[108] During this period, she told DHS officials in charge of the Countering Violent Extremism Task Force (CVE) that it would likely be renamed "Countering Radical Islam" or "Countering Violent Jihad".[109] She became a policy advisor at DHS on April 7, 2017.[103][110] Because of Katherine's openness about her anti-Islam views, her role in the administration has been controversial.[111] Along with President Donald Trump aides, she worked to eliminate a CEV grant to Life After Hate, a group that opposes white supremacy. When the list of new CEV grant recipients was released June 23, 2017, Life After Hate was not included. This decision drew significant attention when a 20 year-old white supremacist attacked a group protesting the Unite the Right rally less than two months later, killing one.[111]

Notes

  1. ^ a bocskai is a dignified, military, traditional garment, ornately braided; a "nobleman's jacket" Cutcher, Alexandra J. "Epilogue". Displacement, Identity, Belonging. Sense Publishers. p. 249. and Neubauer, John; Borbála, Zsuzsanna (eds.). The Exile and Return of Writers from East-Central Europe: A Compendium. Walter de Gruyter. p. 372.

References

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