--- title: 'I Don't Think There's Systemic Racism' NSA O'Brien Tells CNN description: National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien said on Sunday that he doesn't think systemic racism is an issue in U.S. law enforcement agencies. canonical: https://time.com/5845676/systemic-racism-national-security-advisor-robert-obrien-cnn/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-05-31T16:07:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T08:49:22.120Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'I Don't Think There's Systemic Racism' National Security Adviser O'Brien Tells CNN og:description: He said there are "some bad apples" among police officers og:url: https://time.com/5845676/systemic-racism-national-security-advisor-robert-obrien-cnn/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb10c0ca2066bdf4e/698a0ec7b3fce36dd10c6cab/robert-obrien.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: President Trump and Robert O'Brien, national security advisor og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'I Don't Think There's Systemic Racism' National Security Adviser O'Brien Tells CNN twitter:description: He said there are "some bad apples" among police officers twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb10c0ca2066bdf4e/698a0ec7b3fce36dd10c6cab/robert-obrien.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'I Don't Think There's Systemic Racism' Among Law Enforcement, National Security Adviser O'Brien Tells CNN > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law May 31, 2020 4:07 PM UTC  Robert O'Brien, national security advisor, listens as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 12. Robert O'Brien, national security advisor, listens as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 12. Al Drago—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law May 31, 2020 4:07 PM UTC United States National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said on Sunday that he doesn’t think systemic racism is an issue in U.S. law enforcement agencies. After days where massive [protests organized in cities](https://time.com/5845369/george-floyd-protests-malike-sidibe/) across the country against the [murder of George Floyd](https://time.com/5842687/george-floyd-killed-minneapolis-police/), O’Brien told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he doesn’t “think there’s systemic racism” amongst the police. Instead, he argued that there are some “bad cops” who may be racist or poorly trained. He argued while there are “some bad apples” among police officers, the majority of police officers are “great Americans.” > [](https://twitter.com/CNNSotu/status/1267091151556947968) “I think 99.9% of our law enforcement officers are great Americans, and many of them are African American, Hispanic, Asian,” O’Brien said. “They’re working the toughest neighborhoods, they’ve got the hardest jobs to do in this country. And I think they’re amazing, great Americans and they’re my heroes.” O’Brien said the “bad cops” must “be rooted out, because there’s a few bad apples that are giving law enforcement a terrible name. And there’s no doubt that there’s some racist police. I think they’re the minority.” “I’m just so proud of the way our law enforcement professionals are protecting us and handling the situation with restraint. And we love our law enforcement, but we do have to get rid of those like the dirty cop that killed George Floyd,” said O’Brien. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5845676/systemic-racism-national-security-advisor-robert-obrien-cnn/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5845676/systemic-racism-national-security-advisor-robert-obrien-cnn/"},"headline":"'I Don't Think There's Systemic Racism' Among Law Enforcement, National Security Adviser O'Brien Tells CNN","datePublished":"2020-05-31T16:07:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:49:22.120Z","description":"He said there are \"some bad apples\" among police officers","url":"https://time.com/5845676/systemic-racism-national-security-advisor-robert-obrien-cnn/","keywords":["White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb10c0ca2066bdf4e/698a0ec7b3fce36dd10c6cab/robert-obrien.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara Law","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-law/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb10c0ca2066bdf4e/698a0ec7b3fce36dd10c6cab/robert-obrien.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump and Robert O'Brien, national security advisor","caption":"President Trump and Robert O'Brien, national security advisor","creditText":"Al Drago—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5845676/systemic-racism-national-security-advisor-robert-obrien-cnn/","name":"'I Don't Think There's Systemic Racism' Among Law Enforcement, National Security Adviser O'Brien Tells CNN"}}]}] ```