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Who will run the US for the next 4 years: key appointments to the CIA and the Pentagon

Donald Trump has announced his team with which he will run the country for the next four years. His next administration looks very different from the first.

Nov 16, 2024 10:10 83

President-elect Donald Trump has announced his nominations for key government positions. His next administration looks very different from the first. He gives an advantage to people considered loyal to him for top positions. Trump's first term was marked by internal squabbles. Now he seems to be focused on reshaping the federal government in his own image. Some of his chosen candidates could face difficult confirmation battles even with Republicans controlling the US Senate, AP notes, BTA writes. Here are the nominees so far:

Marco Rubio (Secretary of State)

Republican Senator Marco Rubio is on track to become the first Latino to hold the position of US Secretary of State. The Florida-born politician is a senior member of the Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees. Rubio, 53, was perhaps the most hard-line option on Trump's list for secretary of state.

Rubio's selection should bring relief to US partners who fear that the Trump administration could withdraw from the country's global network of alliances, including NATO, given Trump's "America First" approach to foreign affairs, Reuters notes. Rubio, 53, is known as a "hawk" on China, an outspoken critic of Cuba's communist government, and a staunch supporter of Israel. He has in the past advocated a more aggressive U.S. foreign policy toward America's geopolitical foes, though his views have recently aligned more closely with Trump's.

The president-elect has accused previous U.S. presidents of dragging the United States into costly and futile wars and has called for a less interventionist foreign policy. The AP notes Rubio's sharp turn toward Trump, whom the senator once called a "fraudster" during his unsuccessful 2016 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Their relationship has improved significantly while Trump has been in the White House. And as Trump campaigned for a third term, Rubio has welcomed his proposals. For example, Rubio, who more than a decade ago helped craft immigration legislation that included a path to citizenship for people in the United States illegally, now supports Trump’s plan to use the U.S. military for mass deportations.

Susan (Susie) Wiles – White House Chief of Staff

Trump announced that Susie Wiles, one of his two campaign chiefs of staff, will be his White House chief of staff. The 67-year-old architect of the Republican Party’s successful re-election campaign will be the first woman to hold the position. While the specifics of her political views are somewhat unclear, Wiles has been credited with organizing a successful and effective campaign. Her supporters hope she will instill a sense of order and discipline that was often lacking during Trump's first four years in office, when he changed a number of people in the post, Reuters notes.

Pete Hegseth (Defense Secretary)

Trump has chosen Pete Hegseth, a Fox News anchor and National Guard veteran who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, to be his defense secretary. A staunch conservative who supports Trump's "America First" approach, Hegseth, 44, has pushed for the military to be made more lethal.

He has repeatedly criticized the Pentagon's personnel policies for hiring people not based on their qualifications, but on their race, gender and sexual orientation. He threatened to fire all senior officers who espouse "gender" and "woke" diversity policies in the armed forces. According to him, women should not participate in active combat operations, CNN noted.

Mike Walz (National Security Advisor)

The White House national security adviser-elect, Mike Walz, is a 50-year-old Trump loyalist who also served as a colonel in the National Guard. He is a member of the US House of Representatives from Florida and serves on three strategic committees responsible for the military, foreign affairs and intelligence. The national security adviser is an influential role that does not require Senate confirmation. Walz will be responsible for briefing Trump on key national security issues and coordinating with various agencies.

Together with Marco Rubio, who will lead US diplomacy, he will be the main architect of the president's foreign policy, which promises to end the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East - without explaining how, AFP pointed out. He has criticized the Biden administration for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and publicly praised Trump's foreign policy views. Walz has criticized China's activities in the Asia-Pacific region and has expressed the need for the United States to be prepared for potential conflict in the region. He condemns Russia, but at the same time argues that Washington should stop supporting Ukraine's military efforts.

Tom Homan (Special Representative of the President for Border Control Immigration)

The US president-elect announced that Tom Homan, former director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will be his special representative for border situations, or "border czar", as the American political jargon goes.

The Republican has made the crackdown on people living in the country illegally a central element of his campaign, promising mass deportations. Homan, 62, said Monday that he would prioritize deporting immigrants who are in the United States illegally and pose a threat to safety and security, as well as those who work in jobs.

Elise Stefanik (U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations)

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik and a vocal Trump supporter will be the country's ambassador to the United Nations. Stefanik, 40, is a member of Congress from New York and took the leadership position in the House of Representatives in 2021 when she was elected to replace Liz Cheney, who was removed for criticizing Trump's allegations of fraud in the 2020 election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. She will go to the UN amid Trump's promises to end Russia's war on Ukraine and the war in the Middle East.

Matt Gates (Attorney General and Attorney General)

Republican Congressman Matt Gates will head the Justice Department and take over as attorney general if confirmed next year by the Senate, where Republicans have a majority.

"Matt will end the weaponization of government, secure our borders, dismantle organized crime, and restore the deeply eroded faith and trust of the American people in the Department of Justice," Trump said in a statement. According to members of Trump's inner circle, the attorney general is the most important member of the administration after Trump himself and is key to his plans to carry out mass deportations, pardon participants in the January 6 riots and seek retribution against those who have persecuted him over the past four years, Reuters notes.

Mike Huckabee (US ambassador to Israel)

Former Arkansas governor and Baptist pastor Mike Huckabee, 69, will be the US ambassador to Israel, where he has visited several times.

"He loves Israel and the people of Israel, and the people of Israel love him," said Trump, who decided in 2018 to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

A defender of settlement policy, Huckabee told CNN in 2017: "There is no such thing as an occupied West Bank. There is Judea and Samaria" - the biblical name for the region that the Israelis use.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy (heads of the new Department of Government Efficiency)

Billionaire Elon Musk will head the new Department of Government Efficiency, which will aim to cut $2 trillion from the federal government's budget. The 53-year-old world's richest man promised a "fair and humane" transition for federal employees who will be affected by these draconian cuts.

Another wealthy Trump ally, Vivek Ramaswamy, is expected to co-chair the new commission, whose acronym in English is DOGE.

The acronym sounds like the name of the Japanese dog meme Kabosu, which has become a global phenomenon and the emblem of dogecoin - a cryptocurrency originally created as a joke, but of which Musk is one of the biggest supporters.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Secretary of Health)

The Republican US president-elect announced that he will nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services, putting him at the helm of a vast agency with an impressive scope of action: from overseeing the safety of drugs, vaccines, and food to medical research and health insurance programs such as "Medicare" and "Medicaid".

Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran as an independent in this year's presidential election, dropped out of the race after a deal was struck to endorse Trump in exchange for a role in his administration's health care policy.

Tulsi Gabbard (Director of National Intelligence)

Trump has chosen former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to be the next Director of National Intelligence, a powerful position that oversees the nation's spy agencies and serves as the president's top intelligence adviser.

Gabbard, 43, was a Democratic member of the House of Representatives. She unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 before leaving the party in 2022. She endorsed Trump in August and has often campaigned with him this fall. She has also been accused of echoing Russian propaganda, the AP notes.

Gabbard, who served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades, including tours of duty in Iraq and Kuwait, will step into the role as an outsider compared to her predecessor. Current director Avril Haynes was confirmed by the Senate in 2021 after several years in senior national security and intelligence positions.

Lee Zelden (Environmental Protection Agency Administrator)

Lee Zelden has no experience on environmental issues, but he is a longtime supporter of the former president, the AP notes. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote in "Ex" : "We will restore America's energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make America a world leader in artificial intelligence [...] We will do this while protecting access to clean air and water".

Trump said that Selden "will ensure fair and swift deregulation decisions are made in a way that unleashes the power of American business while upholding the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet".

John Ratcliffe (CIA Director)

Ratcliffe, 59, a former congressman and prosecutor, served as director of national intelligence for the last year of Trump's previous term.

He is considered a staunch Trump loyalist and is likely will receive the green light from the Senate. However, during his time as director of national intelligence, Ratcliffe often contradicted the assessments of professional civil servants, which drew criticism from Democrats who said he had politicized the role, Reuters notes.

Caroline Levitt (White House spokeswoman)

Caroline Levitt, a native of New Hampshire, at 27, will become the youngest person ever to hold the position.

"Caroline Levitt did a phenomenal job as national press secretary during my historic campaign, and I am pleased to announce that she will be the White House press secretary," Trump said in a statement. "Caroline is smart, tough and has proven to be an extremely effective communicator. "I have full confidence that she will excel at the podium and deliver our messages to the American people as we make America great again," he added.

Levitt served as deputy White House press secretary from 2017 to 2021.