{{Short description|American analyst (1974–2022)}} '''Richard Higgins''' (September 18, 1974 – February 23, 2022) was an American counter-terrorism analyst who served as the Director for Strategic Planning of the National Security Council in the Trump administration in 2017. He was removed by National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster after warning in a memo of a deep state plot to remove the president.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/11/us/politics/rich-higgins-memo-national-security-council.html|title=White House Aide Forced Out After Claim of Leftist Conspiracy|first=Julie Hirschfeld|last=Davis|work=The New York Times|date=August 11, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/senior-nsc-official-ousted-after-writing-controversial-memo-about-trump-2017-8?r=US&IR=T|title=Senior National Security Council official reportedly ousted after writing bizarre memo about 'deep state' attack on Trump|first=Sonam|last=Sheth|work=Business Insider|date=August 2, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/a-national-security-council-staffer-is-forced-out-over-a-controversial-memo/535725/|title=An NSC Staffer Is Forced Out Over a Controversial Memo|first=Rosie|last=Gray|work=The Atlantic|date=August 2, 2017}}</ref>

==Career== Higgins earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Tufts University.<ref name="higgins">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jyvBzQEACAAJ|title=The Memo: Twenty Years Inside the Deep State Fighting for America First|first=Rich|last=Higgins|year=2020|publisher=Calamo|isbn=9780999705933}}</ref> After college, he served as a specialist in an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit in the United States Army. After serving in the army, he went on to work for the United States Department of Defense.<ref name="bostonglobe"/> As a civilian working for the Department of Defense, he attended the National Defense University (NDU), studying security strategy and counter-terrorism and received a master's degree.<ref name="bostonglobe"/><ref>[https://www.lastingmemories.com/memorial/richard-higgins?obituaries "Higgins, Richard: Obituary"]. Retrieved 17 March 2024.</ref> He eventually became the National Defense University's first civilian chair.<ref name="bostonglobe"/> Higgins later served as the Vice President of Unconstrained Analytics.<ref name="higgins"/>

==Trump administration== Some months after being appointed to serve in the National Security Council by National Security Advisor Michael Flynn in early 2017, Higgins wrote a seven-page memo titled "POTUS and Political Warfare"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/white-house-trump-pentagon-alexander-vindman-michael-flynn-nsc-a9612846.html|title=White House insiders are worried that 'unhinged conspiracy theorists' are being given more and more powerful roles at the Pentagon|first=Andrew|last=Feinberg|work=The Independent|date=July 20, 2020}}</ref> which claimed that a cabal of deep state actors were conspiring against Trump, which included the mainstream media, academia, global corporatists and bankers, the Democratic Party leadership, the Republican Party leadership, and Islamists.<ref name="theguardian"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/10/heres-the-memo-that-blew-up-the-nsc/|title=Here's the Memo That Blew Up the NSC|first1=Jana|last1=Winter|first2=Elias|last2=Groll|work=Foreign Policy|date=August 10, 2017}}</ref> Trump was reportedly "furious" after learning of Higgins' forced departure by Flynn's replacement, H.R. McMaster.<ref name="theguardian">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/13/donald-trump-white-house-steve-bannon-rich-higgins|title=How Trump's paranoid White House sees 'deep state' enemies on all sides|date=August 13, 2017|work=The Guardian|first=David|last=Smith}}</ref>

In 2018, Higgins and retired CIA officer Brad Johnson, backed by about a dozen intelligence and special operations community members, published a conspiracy theory that the Islamic State (IS) and antifa were involved in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/16/conspiracy-theory-las-vegas-shooting-dangerous-222576/|title= Anatomy of a Conspiracy Theory |first=Keith|last=Kloor|work=Politico|date=November 16, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newsweek.com/trump-isis-antifa-las-vegas-shooting-1220053|title=Former Trump Official Pushes Conspiracy Theory that ISIS and Antifa Were Involved in Las Vegas Shooting|first=Jessica|last=Kwong|work=Newsweek|date=November 16, 2018}}</ref>

Higgins co-authored the book ''Re-Remembering the Mis-Remembered Left: The Left's Strategy and Tactics To Transform America'' with Stephen Coughlin in 2019.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CkX0yAEACAAJ|title=Re-Remembering the Mis-Remembered Left: The Left's Strategy and Tactics To Transform America|first1=Stephen|last1=Coughlin|first2=Richard|last2=Higgins|year=2019|publisher=Eagle Tavern|isbn=978-1733473101}}</ref>

In 2020, the White House reportedly attempted to push the Department of Defense to hire Higgins under its nominee for the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy at the Pentagon, Anthony Tata.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/20/politics/rich-higgins-conspiracy-theorist-kfile/index.html|title=The White House is pushing a conspiracy theorist fired from the NSC for a top Pentagon position|work=CNN|date=July 20, 2020|first1=Em|last1=Steck|first2=Andrew|last2=Kaczynski|first3=Nathan|last3=McDermott|first4=Zachary|last4=Cohen}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/02/white-house-pentagon-trump-esper-directed-hiring-of-conspiracy-theorist-over-pentagon-objections-richard-higgins-national-security-council-flynn-rich-higgins/|title=White House Directed Hiring of Conspiracy Theorist Over Pentagon Objections|first1=Jack|last1=Detsch|first2=Robble|last2=Gramer|work=Foreign Policy|date=July 2, 2020}}</ref>

Higgins died on February 23, 2022. He left behind his wife and four children.<ref name="bostonglobe">{{cite news|url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/richard-higgins-obituary?id=33945232|title=Richard Higgins: 1974 - 2022|work=The Boston Globe|accessdate=February 8, 2024}}</ref>

==Bibliography== *{{cite book|title=The Memo: Twenty Years Inside the Deep State Fighting for America First|year=2020|publisher=Calamo|isbn=978-0999705933}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://unconstrainedanalytics.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Political-Warfare.pdf POTUS & Political Warfare], 2017 memo *[https://unconstrainedanalytics.org/richard-higgins/ Rich Higgins] and [https://unconstrainedanalytics.org/remembering-rich-higgins/ Remembering Rich Higgins] at Unconstrained Analytics

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Richard}} Category:1974 births Category:2022 deaths Category:American conspiracy theorists Category:National Defense University alumni Category:National Defense University faculty Category:First Trump administration personnel Category:Tufts University alumni Category:United States Army soldiers Category:United States Department of Defense officials Category:United States National Security Council staffers