US president-elect Donald Trump’s national security team is beginning to take shape.
The returning chief executive has named his selections to key senior positions, including secretary of defense and national security advisor.
Congressman and former army special forces officer Mike Waltz has been tapped to serve as White House national security officer, while Army National Guard veteran and television news presenter Pete Hegseth has been selected to lead the Pentagon as secretary of defense.
Waltz represents a fairly conventional pick, with a resume that includes both uniformed military experience and service on congressional committees that oversee defence, intelligence and foreign affairs.
The Florida Republican, who was elected to the House of Representatives in 2018, previously expressed both support for Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders, and hawkish views on China.
During a 4 November interview with American broadcaster NPR, Waltz described Russia as “essentially a gas station with nukes” and suggested that increased US petroleum exports and stronger enforcement of energy sanctions against Moscow could cripple’s Russia’s war effort, while also constraining China and Iran.
“We will confront the evolving challenges of today’s world and hold firm against those who would harm our way of life,” Waltz said in a 12 November post on X after being nominated. “We will not be afraid to confront our adversaries, and we will invest in the technologies that keep our country strong.”
In a statement, Trump calls Waltz an “expert on the threats posed by China, Russia, Iran and global terrorism”.
The national security advisor position does not require confirmation from the US Senate, meaning Waltz’s new position is all but guaranteed.
By contrast, Trump’s pick for the top job at the Pentagon – and for other cabinet-level posts, such as transportation secretary – will require approval from numerical majority senators in the 100-person body.
The president-elect’s unconventional choice of Fox News presenter Pete Hegseth as US secretary of defense is likely to produce scrutiny in the Senate, particularly from Democrats and moderate Republicans.
While Hegseth has deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan as an army national guard officer and worked at a veterans advocacy group, he has spent the past decade working as a political commentator on the conservative Fox television network. Hegseth has degrees from Princeton University and Harvard University’s John F Kennedy School of Government.
Previous appointees to defence post, including Trump’s own picks, were drawn from the ranks of military generals, senior Pentagon civilians or industrial executives.
Such an unorthodox choice for a post that oversees more than 2 million active and reserve troops and more than 700,000 civilian personnel – and that directs combat deployments and acts as a senior diplomatic figure for military matters – has set the stage for a fiery confirmation hearing in the senate.
Hegseth has previously criticised the integration of female service members into combat positions, a change made in 2015 under the administration of president Barack Obama. Many European forces have adopted a similar approach.
The choice of Hegseth has produced muted reactions from several Republican senators, including Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Indiana’s Todd Young and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis, whose votes will be needed to confirm appointees in the narrowly divided Senate.
Trump, however, has praised Hegseth as a “true believer” in the president’s signature “America First” approach to foreign policy.
“With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice,” Trump says.
Waltz has also come out in support of the choice. “The Pentagon is in need of real reform, and they’re getting a leader who has the grit to make it happen,” the soon-to-be national security advisor said on 12 November.
Trump had two secretaries of defence during his first turn in the White House from 2017-2021 – four-star US Marine Corps General James Mattis, and former Raytheon executive Mark Esper. Both men were seen as moderating influences on the bombastic president, who often had a combative relationship with his deputies.
The choice of a conservative commentator like Hegseth is seen as a pre-emptive move by Trump to install a political loyalist in a critical agency who will fully support the 47th president’s policy aspirations.
