President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Rep. Mike Waltz, a retired Army National Guard officer and combat veteran, as his incoming National Security Adviser, according to a person familiar with the decision who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The selection of Waltz, a three-term Republican congressman from Florida and the first Green Beret elected to Congress, has raised some concerns on Capitol Hill. With the final balance of the House still uncertain, some GOP members worry about losing any seats, as Waltz’s new role would require a special election to fill his vacancy.
As National Security Adviser, Waltz would oversee a wide range of challenges, including the conflict in Ukraine, escalating alliances between Russia and North Korea, continued tensions in the Middle East involving Iranian-backed groups, and calls for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
Waltz, who won re-election last week, has served on the House Armed Services Committee’s readiness subcommittee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the House Intelligence Committee. Known for his hardline stance on China, Waltz has criticized Beijing’s human rights abuses, calling for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in response to China’s treatment of the Uyghur population and its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.
A sharp critic of the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, Waltz has demanded accountability for the chaotic exit and for the deaths of 13 U.S. service members in the Kabul airport bombing. He is also aligned with Trump’s stance on military reform, expressing opposition to what he and Trump have described as a “woke” military focus on diversity and equity initiatives.
“As head of the readiness subcommittee, I am ready to get to work to better equip our military and turn our focus away from woke priorities and back to winning wars,” Waltz said last year.
A Virginia Military Institute graduate and former Green Beret, Waltz served in the active-duty Army and completed combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa, earning four Bronze Stars, two with valor. He also worked as a Pentagon policy adviser under Defense Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates.
“President-elect Trump will soon begin making decisions on his new administration,” Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “Those announcements will come in due time.”
Richard Goldberg, a former National Security Council official in Trump’s first administration, praised Waltz’s selection, citing his elite military background and experience on Capitol Hill as assets to the Trump administration.
