WASHINGTON — Presidentelect Donald Trump picked Florida congressman Mike Waltz as his national security adviser, a person familiar with the matter said, elevating the former Army Green Beret and combat veteran to become one his closest aides.Waltz, who served multiple tours in Afghanistan, will hold a critical position of power, coordinating foreign policy from within the West Wing and briefing the president on global crises. But it also could be a perilous role given that Trump churned through four national security advisers in his first term.The person familiar with the appointment asked not to be identified discussing the selection. Waltz’s congressional office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The Wall Street Journal first reported the move on Monday.Waltz is the second current House member — alongside Elise Stefanik, who Trump will nominate as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — selected by the president-elect so far for his new administration, threatening to cut into what will likely be a slim GOP majority in the lower chamber. Trump also selected former congressman Lee Zeldin as his Environmental Protection Agency administrator, part of a push of loyalists named in the transition’s early days.The job will give Waltz enormous influence over Trump. Successive administrations have imbued more power into the national security adviser role, giving the office a bigger and far more influential staff. The job has become so central that the influence of the national security adviser now usually eclipses the secretary of state, who is nominally responsible for implementing the president’s foreign policy.He will have challenges from the very start. Trump has promised to end the war in Ukraine and has pressed Israel to wrap up its campaign against Hamas and Hezbollah.The new administration will also need to confront an increasingly assertive China.“The next president should act urgently to bring the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East to a swift conclusion, and finally focus strategic attention where it should be: countering the greater threat from the Chinese Communist Party,” Waltz said in an article he co-wrote in a recent issue of the Economist.On Capitol Hill, Waltz distinguished himself among Republicans with aggressive questioning of Biden administration witnesses over the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. He served as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s readiness panel, and criticized the Pentagon over everything from the teaching of Critical Race Theory at military institutions to an overpriced bag of metal bushings for ...
