President-elect Trump appointed Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., to join his administration as National Security Adviser.
‘Mike is the first Green Beret to have been elected to Congress, and previously served in the White House and Pentagon,’ Trump said in a statement announcing his latest cabinet pick. ‘Mike served in the Army Special Forces for 27 years where he was deployed multiple times in combat for which he was awarded four Bronze Stars, including two with Valor.’
‘Mike retired as a Colonel, and is a nationally recognized leader in National Security, a bestselling author, and an expert on the threats posed by China, Russia, Iran, and global terrorism,’ the statement added. ‘He serves as a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Mike is a distinguished graduate with honors of the Virginia Military Institute. Mike has been a strong champion of my America First Foreign Policy agenda, and will be a tremendous champion of our pursuit of Peace through Strength!’
The move puts Waltz at the forefront of a litany of national security crises — ranging from U.S. weapons supplies to Ukraine and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea to the persistent attacks in the Middle East by Iran proxies and the push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups.
Waltz, a three-term GOP congressman from east-central Florida, was the first Green Beret elected to the U.S. House, and easily won reelection last week. He has been chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on readiness and a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its ongoing mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population.
He has been a sharp critic of the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and has called on the U.S. to hold accountable those who bear responsibility for the deaths of the 13 U.S. service members at Abbey Gate and for ‘thousands of Americans and allies behind enemy lines.’ He has also repeated Trump’s frequent complaints about a’woke’ military that the former president has derided as too focused on diversity and equity programs.
In a statement last year, Waltz said that 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. Our national security depends on it.’
A graduate of Virginia Military Institute, Waltz was a Green Beret. He served in the active-duty Army for four years before moving to the Florida Guard. While in the Guard he did multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa and was awarded four Bronze Stars, including two with valor. He also worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates. The Associated Press contributed to this report.