President-elect Donald Trump’s picks for top slots in the U.S. national security apparatus have garnered approval from a number of defense and foreign policy experts.
Despite being elected less than two weeks ago, Trump’s team is quickly filling cabinet and high-level administration roles, especially on positions related to defense and foreign affairs. While the final makeup of Trump’s administration has yet to be determined, some national security experts spoke highly of the choices so far, though most of the appointees will have to get Senate confirmation before anything is final — and that might be more difficult with some than others.
One of Trump’s most recent cabinet picks is Florida Sen. Marco Rubio who was selected to fill the position of Secretary of State, which the president-elect announced on Wednesday. Rubio previously had frosty relations with Trump — especially in the 2016 Republican primary race — but the two have since reconciled.
Rubio has years of experience in Florida politics and was elected to the Senate in 2011. He is well-versed in foreign policy and currently serves as both vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and member of the Committee on Foreign Relations.
He has been outspoken about foreign threats from Russia, Iran, China and North Korea, and how those actors are strengthening their relationships.
“Trump could not have picked a better secretary of state than Marco Rubio,” Michael Sobolik, author and senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, told Newsmax in an interview this week. “I would challenge anyone to find a more clear-eyed, strategic mind on how to compete with the Chinese Communist Party than Marco Rubio.”
Rubio is likely to have an easier time getting confirmed for his new role by the Senate, former Pentagon official Morgan Viña told the DCNF, given his good relationships with both sides of the aisle in the chamber.
“He’s highly respected in the Senate amongst his colleagues, both on the left and the right,” Viña told the DCNF, noting that Rubio isn’t one to embrace an “isolationist” perspective when it comes to geopolitics. “He does have a very robust, strong approach when it comes to U.S. leadership abroad.”
Florida Rep. Mike Waltz is also set to join Trump’s team, taking on the role of Trump’s national security advisor. In that position, Waltz will have Trump’s ear on defense and foreign affairs-related issues, and won’t need to be confirmed by the Senate as it isn’t a cabinet role.
Walz was elected to the House in 2018 and serves in various committee positions, including the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence — the latter of which is one of the highest-level committees in Congress.
“Waltz and Rubio have held Biden-Harris fecklessness to account, while advocating for the restoration of deterrence that President Trump established in his first term that can keep America out of wars and keep our people safe here at home,” Victoria Coates, former White House national security adviser, told the DCNF.
He served for over 26 years in the Army, is a former Green Beret and has received four Bronze stars following his deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s a stark contrast from Biden’s current national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, who has a background in legal work and academia.
“Waltz is an excellent choice,” Viña told the DCNF. “He has extensive experience … he’s going to be set up for success given his own background at the same time, though, he’s going to have to corral a lot of challenging personalities.”
“The national security adviser’s role is, in many ways, herding cats, but it’s also ensuring that the president gets the information that he needs to make informed decisions,” Viña said.
Another pick is former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who has been appointed by Trump to become the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Gabbard was elected to the House of Representatives in 2013 and served as a Democratic lawmaker until 2021. She shifted her political ideology from Democrat to Independent after running in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary election, and then became a Republican in recent months, throwing her support behind Trump for this year’s presidential election.
Gabbard enlisted in the Hawaii National Guard in 2003 and has served in Iraq. She is currently a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve.
“It’s vital right now to restore democratic accountability and respect for free speech and our rights in parts of the intelligence community. [Gabbard] is a great pick to ensure that actually happens,” former Pentagon official Elbridge Colby wrote in a post on X on Wednesday.
While she could be a good choice for the role, Viña explained, she may face challenges during her Senate confirmation. Gabbard met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a “fact-finding mission” in 2017, which some viewed as legitimizing a dictatorial regime.
The former representative could face questions about the matter during her Senate confirmation hearings.
“There will be challenges when Senate confirmation comes around,” Viña said. “I think we’ll have to wait and see the Senate do its due diligence and sort of vet her.”
There’s also Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice for Secretary of Defense and head of the Pentagon. Hegseth’s appointment caught many in the Washington establishment by surprise — given that he was most recently a Fox News host — but his experience goes well beyond his time in cable news.
Hegseth joined the military in the early 2000s and has been deployed to Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan in high-ranking positions. He’s also been a vocal advocate for veterans affairs, chairing the Vets for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America organizations in the 2010s.
Hegseth spoke frequently about national security and foreign-related matters while he was with Trump, and expressed his support for Trump’s “America First” approach to geopolitics. He’s also expressed his concerns that recruiting and retention in the military are not meeting expectations, and raised issues with the Biden administration’s left-wing policies in the Pentagon.
“I think it’s a really good pick by the president,” Morgan Murphy, former Pentagon press secretary and national security adviser to Sen. Tommy Tuberville, told the Daily Caller News Foundation this week. “It’s going to be, I think, a tremendous boon to recruiting to have a secretary who has served.”
John Ratcliffe, DNI in 2020, has been tapped to serve as the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Trump announced on Wednesday. A former Texas congressman — with involvement in Judiciary, Homeland Security and Intelligence Committees — and George Bush administration alumni, Ratcliffe was a fierce supporter of Trump during his first term and frequently denounced the now-debunked claims that Russia interfered on Trump’s behalf in the 2016 elections.
Ratcliffe has repeatedly raised concerns about China, and felt that the intelligence community’s approach to the country wasn’t level-headed. Biden officials saw Russia and Iran as greater threats — despite current FBI director Chris Wray expressing earlier this year that China remains the prime rival — but admitted that some of Ratcliffe’s suggestions were correct, according to The New York Times.
“John Ratcliffe’s broad experience in law enforcement, Congress and in the intelligence community make him an excellent choice to head the CIA. He will serve President Trump with distinction and ensure that the agency supports presidential intelligence priorities,” Coates said in a statement on Wednesday.
Trump still has a number of cabinet positions to fill, although appointees are being chosen quickly. In addition to the aforementioned announcements, Trump said this week he had chosen Robert F. Kennedy to head the Department of Health and Human Services, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as Interior Secretary, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as Department of Homeland Security Secretary, and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as Attorney General.
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