The White House reportedly installed a retired major general who served as a 2016 campaign adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump at a senior advisory role at the CIA earlier this year.

A decorated retired US Army general and a graduate of West Point and Harvard Law School, Bert Mizusawa, has been serving as a senior adviser for national security technology and business integration at the Central Intelligence Agency, Politico reported.

There are a number of people in the West Wing, including Johnny McEntee and retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, who have respect for him given his credentials and loyalty to the president, an administration official said, adding that Mizusawa was assigned to the role by John McEntee, the 30-year-old director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office.

CIA Press Secretary Tim Barrett also said in a statement that Mizusawa serves as a senior adviser on national security technology, bringing his deep expertise to CIA’s mission. Any notion that he was ‘installed’ here is ridiculous. He went through the normal process for an outside expert hire.

This is while former CIA officials said it seemed strange for the White House to appoint a former campaign surrogate to serve in such a CIA role.

An outsider with no internal sponsorship? said one official. That never happens.

President Trump has long been accusing the intelligence community of being part of a deep state, trying to derail his candidacy.