BREAKING: Trump taps Florida Rep Mike Waltz as National Security Advisor

Waltz is a veteran Green Beret who served in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa and his this new position will brief the president on national security matters. He will also be responsible for coordinating between all the national security agencies in the federal government, per the Wall Street Journal.

During his campaign, Trump promised to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, which has been raging since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. Waltz will also have to contend with an ongoing war in Gaza and the fallout in the Middle East.

The national security adviser holds a pivotal position in managing and unifying the country’s primary security agencies, advising the president, and carrying out his strategic directives.

In a November 7th interview, after Trump secured the 2024 election Waltz said, "I do think we need a culture change in how we approach our defense establishment, on how we buy things within the Pentagon. We still have a Pentagon that cannot audit itself, despite years and years of trying the basics of understanding where every tax dollar goes. It seems - I can go through the weapons systems. They just, over and over again, cost twice as much, deliver half as much and take twice as long as originally planned. And there is a whole slew of new technologies from Silicon Valley and elsewhere that are really chomping at the bit to help with our defense and security issues, and they can't break through the bureaucracy. So I think we do need new leadership. We need a culture change. We need to focus the Defense Department on being the meritocracy that it has always been, where we just simply have the best of the best."

Trump has already appointed Susie Wiles, Lee Zeldin, Tom Homan, and Stephen Miller to top positions in the administration.