Trump to Name Michael Waltz as His National Security Adviser

Trump to Name Michael Waltz as His National Security Adviser

The president-elect has chosen a Republican member of Congress from Florida to oversee national security policy in the White House.

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By Maggie Haberman and Catie Edmondson

President-elect Donald J. Trump has chosen Representative Michael Waltz of Florida to be his national security adviser, two people familiar with the decision said on Monday, turning to a former Green Beret who has taken a tough line on China to oversee foreign and national security policy in the White House.

Mr. Waltz is the second Republican House member to be selected by Mr. Trump for a high-level job in his next administration, after his choice of Representative Elise Stefanik of New York for ambassador to the United Nations.

Mr. Waltz, 50, has been a member of the Armed Services, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Committees in the House and would join the Trump administration as it addresses Russia’s war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East and confronts an increasingly aggressive China. His wife, Julia Nesheiwat, was homeland security adviser in the first Trump administration.

Even as a congressional freshman, Mr. Waltz caught the eye of the Trump White House with his national security credentials. In 2020, in the days after Mr. Trump authorized the drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani of Iran, Mr. Waltz was included in a small group of Republicans invited to the White House who received a briefing on the strike.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the move.

Mr. Waltz, who became a fixture on Fox News on matters of foreign policy, is widely regarded on Capitol Hill as a hawk on both China and Iran. He served multiple combat tours in Afghanistan and vociferously opposed President Biden’s withdrawal of troops from there. “What no one can ever do for me, including this administration right now, is articulate a counterterrorism plan that’s realistic without us there,” Mr. Waltz, who also served as a counterterrorism adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, said in an interview in the days after the withdrawal.

Mr. Waltz had also opposed withdrawing large numbers of troops from Afghanistan during the Trump administration without stringent conditions, and he introduced legislation to prevent a significant troop drawdown from Afghanistan unless the director of national intelligence could certify that the Taliban would not associate with Al Qaeda.

The pick would also whittle down even further what is expected to be a slender Republican majority in the House in the early days of the next congressional session.

House Republicans appear on track to win a narrow majority in the next Congress. Special elections would need to be held to replace both Mr. Waltz and Ms. Stefanik, who currently represent safe districts for the party.

Trump Builds His Administration

As his team ramps up the transition process, President-elect Donald Trump says his administration will radically reshape the federal government.

• Foreign Policy: While many of Trump’s foreign policy picks were once called neocons by their peers, they now speak the language of the “America First” movement.
• Skirting the Senate: Trump’s demand that Senate Republicans surrender their role in vetting his nominees poses an early test of whether his second term will be more radical than his first.
• Department of Education: The president-elect said he would use the department to further his priorities. He also said he would close it. Both options would face difficulties.
• Middle East: Trump’s nominees to serve as top diplomatic envoys to Israel and the Middle East indicate a staunch pro-Israel policy.
• Deportations: Trump is signaling with his staffing decisions his intention to carry out a campaign promise of widespread deportations of undocumented immigrants.