Dina Powell Is Breaking Up the President's Boys' Club

The photo from inside Donald Trump's makeshift situation room at Mar-a-Lago affirmed what White House insiders have recognized for some time—that Dina Powell has quietly established herself as a White House power, the AP reports. Though sandwiched between other administration officials, the deputy national security adviser stands out as the only woman among 13 staffers in the room on the night the president ordered the missile attack in Syria. And in a White House that is split between outsider ideologues and more traditional operators, Powell is viewed as a steady force in the growing influence of the latter.

A newer addition to the team, Powell's West Wing experience, conservative background, and policy chops have won over Trump's daughter and son-in-law. Now, Powell is at the table as the president turns more of his attention to international affairs, attempting to craft a foreign policy out of a self-described "flexible" approach to the world. She is a rare Bush veteran in a White House that has largely shunned its Republican predecessor's legacy. She came via Goldman Sachs—decidedly not a rarity for the new president—originally to work on economic development at the behest of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. She was soon moved to the National Security Council. Learn more about Powell and her growing influence here. (More Trump administration stories.)