Story highlights McMaster said jihadist terrorists aren't true to their religion

He also signaled that Russia is an adversary, not a friend

(CNN) New national security adviser H.R. McMaster is already setting a strikingly different tone than his ousted predecessor, Michael Flynn, and President Donald Trump, saying the term "radical Islamic terrorism" isn't helpful for US goals.

At an all-hands meeting of the National Security Council on Thursday, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said jihadist terrorists aren't true to their professed religion and that the use of the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism" doesn't help the US in working with allies to defeat terrorist groups, an official present at the session confirmed to CNN.

The phrase is unhelpful because terrorist organizations like ISIS represent a perversion of Islam, and are thus un-Islamic, McMaster said, according to a source who attended the meeting.

An administration official acknowledged there is a "genuine difference of opinion" between Trump and McMaster on the use of "radical Islamic terrorism," but said McMaster is not telling the President he's wrong, and added it's not a "major difference."

A source also said McMaster signaled that Russia was an adversary, not a friend. And, in contrast to White House strategist Steve Bannon, who has called the European Union a flawed institution and expressed a desire to forge stronger ties with individual European countries, McMaster defended the post-World War II world order, saying it was important for maintaining peace and security.

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