With help from Maggie Miller and Connor O’Brien
National security adviser MIKE WALTZ has been busy staffing up the National Security Council since the Trump administration took office just over a month ago.
We have a brief (but not exhaustive) rundown of Trump’s NSC team so far. The names shed light on who is helping shape and implement the MAGA agenda behind-the-scenes, on major issues such as the Russia-Ukraine war, competition with China, defense policy, cybersecurity and more.
KEVIN HARRINGTON has joined the NSC as senior director for strategic planning, a role he held in the first Trump administration that oversees the big picture aspects of implementing the president’s national security agenda. Harrington is a former investment fund manager and associate of venture capitalist PETER THIEL and worked closely with ROBERT O’BRIEN when he served as Trump’s national security adviser from 2019 to 2021.
IVAN KANAPATHY is the NSC senior director for Asia, and he could play an outsized role in crafting the Trump administration’s approach to China and Taiwan. Kanapathy, who takes over as one of the senior-most officials focused on the Indo-Pacific, is a former Marine Corps officer and military attache who has worked at the American Institute in Taiwan, the U.S. de facto diplomatic representation to Taiwan. He served in the first Trump NSC as director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, and as deputy senior director for Asian affairs.
Before rejoining government, Kanapathy called on Taiwan to send Stingers and Javelins to its outlying islands to prepare for a Chinese attack, as part of an arsenal that could include hundreds of attritable weapons platforms and thousands of munitions. “[T]he Taiwanese military must prioritize denying a PLA lodgment above all else,” Kanapathy wrote in an edited volume published last year. “Taiwan should be prepared to endure missile and bomb strikes, an enforced embargo, cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, disinformation campaigns, and other associated threats for up to two months while denying a landing operation.”
ANDREW PEEK serves on the NSC as senior director for Europe and Russia. Peek was previously national security adviser to Waltz when Waltz represented Florida’s 6th district in the House before joining Trump’s White House earlier this year.
Peek plays a major role in informing Trump’s approach to NATO, Russia and Ukraine, including the ongoing (and dramatic) efforts to broker a rare earths deal with Ukraine as part of broader peace talks. Peek, who has a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, served in the first Trump administration at the NSC and at the State Department as deputy assistant secretary for Iran and Iraq at the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.
A longtime senior Republican Congressional aide, ERIC TRAGER, made the move to the White House to be the NSC’s senior director for the Middle East and North Africa after serving as a professional staff member for Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee since 2018. Trager helms the NSC’s response to the ongoing Israel-Gaza crisis and helps shape the Trump administration’s approach to Iran.
On the communications side, BRIAN HUGHES serves as deputy national security adviser for strategic communications and spokesperson for the NSC, crafting the White House’s public affairs strategy on the national security front. Hughes led communications for the Trump transition team.
IAN BENNITT serves as senior director for maritime and industrial capacity. Bennitt, another former Congressional staffer on the powerful House Armed Services Committee, could play a major role in maneuvering the Trump team’s stated plans to dramatically ramp up naval shipbuilding.
Among others on the NSC staff to keep track of: WALKER BARRETT, a former Republican staffer for the House Armed Services Committee, serves as the senior director for defense; ALEXEI BULAZEL is the senior director for cybersecurity; and MAGGIE DOUGHERTY, a former staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under its chair, Sen. JIM RISCH (R-Id.), is senior director for international organizations. Other notable names to keep track of: NELS NORDQUIST, who covered national security issues as a staffer on the House Financial Services Committee, is senior director for international economics where he plays a role overseeing U.S. sanctions policies; BRIAN WALSH, a former staffer for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence under then-Sen. MARCO RUBIO, serves as senior director for intelligence; and DR. GERALD PARKER serves as senior director for biosecurity and pandemic response.
TRUMP ADDRESSES CONGRESS: Trump is scheduled to give a joint address to Congress tonight, touting his very eventful first weeks in office and outlining his policy agenda in the months to come. His preview on Truth Social was vague but very classically Trump-y: “I WILL TELL IT LIKE IT IS.”
These addresses typically focus on the domestic agenda and rallying the political base, but we’ll be watching two issues closely to see what Trump says on the national security front.
First, what Trump says on brokering peace in Ukraine after last week’s fiery Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY. Zelenskyy appeared to offer an olive branch to the Trump team on X today, saying “It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.”
Second, what, if anything, Trump says about China. Beijing is Washington’s arch geopolitical rival and Trump has stacked his administration with staunch China hawks like Waltz and Secretary of State MARCO RUBIO. But other influential figures in Trump’s inner circle, like ELON MUSK, also have major financial stakes in trade with China. So will either Trump the China hawk or Trump the deal-maker emerge in tonight’s address if he brings up ties with Beijing?
UKRAINIANS REACT TO AID CUT-OFF: Ukrainian soldiers on the frontlines have reacted to Trump’s decision to cut off military aid to Ukraine with a mixture of dismay and also grim determination, as our own Veronika Melkozerova writes in.
“We’re as ready to keep fighting as we used to. Nothing has changed but our perception of America,” Ukrainian soldier Vitaly, serving in Sumy and Kursk region, told POLITICO. (POLITICO is not sharing his full name or rank for security reasons). “We used to see the United States as a symbol of freedom and hope, now we see it turned into Russian number 2.”
According to Vitaly and other soldiers, American help was not that visible on the war front. However, they said losing access to Elon Musk’s space-based Starlink satellite connections would be catastrophic for the Ukrainian army, which relies on the satellite services to coordinate operations and drone attacks.
The pressure Trump has been putting on Zelenskyy has pushed soldiers who were critical of the Ukrainian president to now defend him. “Because by humiliating and pressuring our president, Trump offended all of us,” Vitaly said.
AND SO DOES CANADA: As Trump levies 25 percent tariffs on top trade partners Canada and Mexico, Canadian Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU lashed out at the U.S. leader in a press conference on Tuesday, tying in Trump’s recent moves on Ukraine. “The United States launched a trade war against Canada. Their closest partner and ally, their closest friend. At the same time, they’re talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin, a lying, murderous dictator. Make that make sense,” Trudeau said.
AUSSIE PEACEKEEPERS? Australia is open to deploying troops to Ukraine as part of a multinational peacekeeping force, Australian Prime Minister ANTHONY ALBANESE announced at a press conference on Tuesday. “There’s discussion at the moment about potential peacekeeping, and from my government’s perspective, we’re open to consideration of any proposals going forward,” he said.
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THE COLBY LITMUS TEST: There’s tension brewing over a senior Trump Pentagon appointee that has become a proxy battle over the future of the GOP’s foreign policy platform. ELBRIDGE COLBY, Trump’s pick to be under secretary of defense for policy, faced the Senate Armed Services Committee in a confirmation hearing today.
As our own Connor O’Brien reports, Colby was grilled by both Democrats and Republicans alike over his views advocating for cutting back U.S. defense commitments in Europe and Asia to challenge China and questioning the United States’ ability to deter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
“I’ve always said that Taiwan is very important to the United States, but as you said, it’s not an existential interest,” Colby said during the hearing. “It’s very important. The core American interest is in denying China regional hegemony.”
Colby’s nomination underscores the widening gap between the more traditional Reaganite wing of the Republican party and a new generation of foreign policy “prioritizers” or “restrainers” that call for cutting back U.S. military commitments abroad to refocus on the Indo-Pacific. Colby has curried favor among the far-right flanks of the party, making frequent appearances on rightwing personality TUCKER CARLSON’s show and being championed by Vice President JD VANCE (who introduced Colby at his hearing) and Trump’s son, DONALD TRUMP JR.
Colby was the subject of a critical Wall Street Journal editorial board column published on Monday that argued Colby’s views are “less about restoring American power and more a counsel of U.S. decline and retreat.”
NOTHING TO SEE HERE: The Pentagon on Tuesday denied reports from last week that Defense Secretary PETE HEGSETH had ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down on any operations involving Russia, our own Maggie Miller writes in.
The Record first reported the order on Friday by Hegseth to Cyber Command, an order that reportedly excluded work on Russia being done by the National Security Agency. At the time, the Pentagon declined to comment either way, simply stating that Hegseth was focused on “the safety of the warfighter.” But four days later on Tuesday, the Defense Department denied the story entirely.
“TO BE CLEAR:@SecDef has neither canceled nor delayed any cyber operations directed against malicious Russian targets and there has been no stand-down order whatsoever from that priority,” the Pentagon posted on X, attributing the statement to an “official who was granted anonymity to discuss internal decisions.”
The reports prompted major concerns from key Democrats on Capitol Hill and officials in Brussels over the past several days.
TRUMP OFFICIAL TO BRIEF ON USAID: PETE MAROCCO, the Trump appointee at the center of the administration’s efforts to dismantle and reform the U.S. Agency for International Development, will brief House lawmakers in a closed-door meeting tomorrow morning, two Congressional aides familiar with the matter told NatSec Daily.
Trump’s efforts to dismantle USAID have been ensnared in high-profile court battles, and have drawn intense criticism from Democrats and aid advocates who argue the sudden and blanket cutting of billions of dollars of U.S. foreign aid will cost lives abroad and erode U.S. soft power on the world stage.
Proponents, including Republican lawmakers such as Risch, the SFRC chair, argue the aid agency was long overdue for deep reforms to implement programs that advance U.S. interests in a more fiscally responsible way.
THUNE ON UKRAINE AID HALT: Senate majority leader JOHN THUNE (R-S.D.) downplayed the significance of Trump’s decision to halt military aid to Ukraine today, saying the move was temporary, as our own Jordain Carney reports. “Well it’s a pause, importantly, not a stop. And I think it’s part of a negotiation,” Thune told reporters. “And I’m hopeful that in the end we’ll get folks to the table and be able to negotiate a deal that will bring a peaceful resolution to this three-years long conflict … and one that hopefully will respect the sovereignty of the Ukrainian people.”
BRIT BACKLASH: A top British conservative lawmaker lashed out at Vance over his comments in a Fox News interview. “I was part of British forces fighting in highly kinetic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the latter in response to Article 5 following 9/11,” British parliamentary member BEN OBESE-JECTY wrote on X. “The disrespect shown by the new US Vice President to the sacrifices of our service personnel is unacceptable.”
He was reacting to Vance downplaying plans for a European-led peacekeeping force in Ukraine, telling Fox News commentator SEAN HANNITY that the U.S. rare earths deal is a better guarantee than “20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”
Vance, for his part, said on X that his comments weren’t directed at Britain or France, which are leading the plans to draw up a European peacekeeping force: “This is absurdly dishonest. I don’t even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond,” he said.
— DAVID NEWMAN is joining global law firm Morrison Foerster as a partner and co-chair of the firm’s n ational security and crisis management groups. Newman is coming to the firm from the Justice Department, where he served as principal deputy assistant attorney general for the national security division.
— HARRY FONES is now principal deputy assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS. He previously was comms director for the House Freedom Caucus.
— Esther Webber, POLITICO: KEIR STARMER, unlikely leader of the free world
— Richa Naidu and Khalid Abdelaziz, Reuters: How a key ingredient in Coca-Cola, M&M’s is smuggled from war-torn Sudan
— German Marshall Fund, 9 a.m.: Digital crossroads: China’s influence in the Western Balkans
— Center for Strategic and International Studies, 5 p.m.: Enhancing Defense Industrial Cooperation Between Australia and the United States
Thanks to our editor, Rosie Perper, who has staffed her national security council with adversaries to our cause.
Thanks to our producer, Gregory Svirnovskiy, whose national security council is filled with only the best people.