Five things to know about Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser pick
President-elect Trump has selected Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) as his next national security advisor, picking a retired Army Green Beret with years of experience on defense and foreign policy.
Waltz, who represents District 6 in Florida, has served in the House since 2019. He sits on the House Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees.
Trump said on his social media site Truth Social that Waltz was an “expert on the threats posed by China, Russia, Iran and global terrorism” and a “champion of my America First Foreign Policy agenda and will be a tremendous champion of our pursuit of peace through strength.”
Here’s what else to know about Waltz.
Hawkish views on China
Waltz will bring a hardline position on China to the national security adviser role. In Congress, he has supported legislation aiming to crack down on Beijing, including a bill to boost Washington’s ties in the Indo-Pacific to prevent Chinese dominance in the region.
Waltz called China an “existential threat” to the U.S. in a 2020 Fox News interview.
“This will be the national security issue much like how we had to face the Soviet Union for much of the 20th Century,” he said, adding that China “will be the case for the 21st Century.”
Waltz is also the co-chair of the House India caucus, where he has sought to build deeper ties with New Delhi to support a common alliance against China.
Waltz has warned against China’s historic peacetime “military buildup” and has said the U.S. national security focus should pivot to deterring Beijing.
Waltz helped create the China Task Force in the House in 2020, which formed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and looked at the threat from Beijing in multiple sectors. The House now has a Select Committee on China.
Trump also selected another China hawk, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), to be his secretary of state, showing that confronting Beijing will likely be a top priority of his second administration.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has signaled that the military should be ready by 2027 for a potential attack on Taiwan, the self-governing island nation that Beijing sees as part of the mainland.
Ardent supporter of Israel
Waltz, like most of the Republican party, has shown full-throated support for Israel throughout the war in the Middle East, where Israeli forces are fighting against Iranian-backed proxy groups.
The Biden administration and Democrats have expressed concern about the high death toll in Gaza, where more than 43,000 Palestinians have died in more than a year of Israel fighting against Hamas, which invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 and taking roughly 250 hostages.
President Biden and Democrats have pushed for a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Hamas still holds some 100 hostages in Gaza.
But Waltz said in a September Fox News interview that a ceasefire and hostage release deal would not end the conflict.
“Iran will continue to stoke unrest because they want to destroy Israel,” Waltz said. “Making concession after concession to Iran is actually what is destabilizing the situation.”
Waltz has also raised concerns about the U.S. downsizing its presence in Iraq and supports Israel taking action against both Hamas and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Skeptical of Biden’s Ukraine strategy
Waltz has been much tougher on Russian President Vladimir Putin than Trump, who critics accuse of having overly cozy ties with Moscow.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Waltz was quick to condemn the invasion and support arming Ukraine to defend against the attack.
Still, Trump has pledged to end the war in Ukraine by the time he takes office on Jan. 20.
Waltz has been critical of Biden’s approach to the conflict, even if he has not fully endorsed the president-elect’s peace plan.
In September 2023, Waltz said in a statement that Biden “has neither explained the American objective in Ukraine nor his strategy to achieve it” and said NATO allies must step up support for Kyiv.
“In the near term, U.S. military aid must be contingent on European burden sharing and equal European assistance going forward,” he said. “The United States must invest its savings in its own security. It should match the dollar value of any aid it gives to Ukraine with securing the southern border.”
Backs using military against Mexican cartels
Trump has proposed deploying active-duty troops to the border and carrying out mass deportations, and has selected hardline immigration officials for his next administration.
Waltz has joined the growing calls in the GOP for tougher action at the border, saying the U.S. must secure the border first before immigration reform and slamming the Biden administration for failing to do so.
In 2023, he also co-sponsored legislation to authorize the use of military force against the cartels in Mexico. Several Republicans have now supported military action against the cartels, citing concerns about the crime syndicates shipping powerful and deadly drugs like fentanyl into the country.
“The situation at our southern border has become untenable for our law enforcement personnel,” Waltz said in a 2023 statement. “It’s time to go on offense.”
Decorated military career
Waltz is a retired colonel from Boynton Beach, Fla., who attended the Virginia Military Institute and then served 27 years in the U.S. Army and National Guard.
He enrolled in the Army’s Ranger School and joined the elite special forces Green Berets. Waltz deployed to Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa.
Waltz later served as the defense policy director in the Bush administration for the Secretaries of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates.
He also wrote a book about his experience as a Green Beret and started a small defense contracting company, Metis Solutions, which focuses on training and support for the U.S. military.
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