| | | | |  | | By Robbie Gramer, Daniel Lippman and Eric Bazail-Eimil | |  The appointments show Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz plans to hit the ground running with a team of vetted pro-Trump senior staffers on Jan. 20. | Riccardo Savi/Getty Images | With help from Paul McLeary, Phelim Kine, Jack Detsch and Nahal Toosi Subscribe here | Email Robbie | Email Eric President-elect Donald Trump’s National Security Council is taking shape, and NatSec Daily has some new names that show he’s prioritizing first-term Trump term officials and influential Republican staffers on Capitol Hill. The latest four senior appointees, as confirmed by five people familiar with transition plans, is expected to include WALKER BARRETT for a top post on defense issues and IVAN KANAPATHY for China and East Asia policy. The appointments (which we previewed earlier today for Pros) show Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Rep. MIKE WALTZ (R-Fla.) plans to hit the ground running with a team of vetted pro-Trump senior staffers on Jan. 20. Waltz has signaled in recent days his plans to remove nonpolitical career appointees from the NSC to ensure it’s staffed by people loyal to the incoming president’s agenda — comments that have reportedly drawn concern from career non-political civil servants who serve on the NSC on rotations from other agencies. NSC appointees don’t require Senate confirmation, but Washington insiders pay close attention to who takes what job: NSC staffers often wield significant influence over the day-to-day operations of a president’s foreign policy agenda and the NSC in recent years has wrested more control over U.S. foreign policy from the State Department and other agencies. Barrett, currently a professional staff member on the House Armed Services Committee, will be the National Security Council’s senior director for defense issues, according to the people familiar with the matter. All were granted anonymity to discuss internal transition matters. Barrett is a former deputy chief of staff and legislative director for Waltz and also worked for former Reps. JEFF DENHAM (R-Calif.) and TOM RICE (R-S.C.). Barrett didn’t respond to requests for comment. DAVE FEITH is expected to join the National Security Council as senior director overseeing technology and national security. In the first Trump term, Feith served in both the Pentagon and State Department, helping oversee Trump’s Indo-Pacific defense strategy and hawkish posture on China. Feith did not respond to a request for comment. Another former Trump NSC staffer is returning in the second term to oversee Trump’s Indo-Pacific policy. Kanapathy, a U.S. military veteran, is expected to serve as senior director for East Asia. Kanapathy declined to comment. Kanapathy was part of a National Security Council team during the first Trump administration that pushed Taiwan to more aggressively build up its arsenal of weapons to deter an invasion from China. THOMAS BOODRY, who serves as Waltz’s legislative director, is also expected to join the NSC in a role coordinating the White House’s national security work with Congress, according to one person familiar with the matter. Boodry declined to comment. He’ll join fellow Waltz staffer ANDREW PEEK who POLITICO previously reported is expected to join the NSC as senior director for European affairs. Outgoing White House National Security JAKE SULLIVAN declined to comment directly on the reports that Trump officials were questioning career NSC staffers’ loyalty in a press conference on Monday. “These are patriots, they are people dedicated to the national interest of the country,” Sullivan said of NSC career staff. “The incoming administration will have to make its own decisions.” A spokesperson for the Trump transition did not respond to a request for comment.
| | | | BIDEN’S FOPO SWAN SONG: President JOE BIDEN is singing a very happy tune about his administration’s foreign policy record in his final week in office. In a speech at the State Department today, Biden hailed his administration’s work rallying allies to the defense of Ukraine and his management of the U.S.-China relationship. He also celebrated how his administration strengthened alliances around the world, especially among NATO members and partners in the Indo-Pacific, and focused on the emerging challenges posed by new technologies and climate change. “Now America is more capable, and I would argue, better prepared than we've been in a long, long time,” Biden said. “While our competitors and adversaries are facing stiff headwinds, we have the wind at our back.” But Biden did not acknowledge a number of times his foreign policy appeared to come up short . He defended his administration’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, while not engaging with Republican criticism over how the withdrawal was actually conducted. Biden also did not address criticism over his administration’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which has tarred his image in the eyes of many left-leaning and Arab American voters as advocates warn about humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave. A GAZA CEASE-FIRE NEARETH? Sullivan and Biden said that negotiators are close to getting a hostage and ceasefire deal for the Israel-Gaza conflict days before leaving office. But Sullivan’s statement was more in the realm of “it’s possible” than “it’s happening.” “We are close to a deal, and it can get done this week. I'm not making a promise or a prediction, but it is there for the taking, and we are going to work to make it happen," he said. He acknowledged that “there has been a little bit of a Lucy and the football quality where we thought we got really close and then it just didn't happen.” Hamas received another “final draft agreement” from Israeli and Middle Eastern negotiators over the weekend that would free Israeli hostages and reach a cease-fire in Gaza, per Axios’ BARAK RAVID. It’s not the first time Hamas has been offered a “final draft” of an agreement, only for the militant group to turn it down and drag negotiations along further. But this draft follows a weekend call between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU where he again stressed to the Israeli leader the importance of a cease-fire deal. Netanyahu also dispatched the chief of Mossad to talks in a sign that progress was being made. NOT JUST CANNON FODDER: Ukrainian soldiers are pushing back on suggestions that North Korean troops are just being used as “cannon fodder” against Ukrainian positions in Kursk. As our own VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA reports, Ukrainian soldiers defending against North Korean troops say they’re formidable fighters on the battlefield. They’re also not defecting at first opportunity and blowing themselves up before they can be captured. “They are young, motivated, physically fit, brave and good at using small arms. They are also disciplined. They have everything you need for a good infantryman,” said Lt. Col. YAROSLAV CHEPURNYI, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian army. Still, the Ukrainians are forcing North Koreans to pay a heavy toll for jumping into the war. More than 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and some 2,700 wounded in Ukraine, South Korea’s intelligence services said today, as The Diplomat’s MITCH SHIN reports. Read: Putin’s passport trap: The Cubans caught in Moscow’s endless war by our own EVA HARTOG IT’S MONDAY: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily! This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at rgramer@politico.com and ebazail@politico.com, and follow Robbie and Eric on X @RobbieGramer and @ebazaileimil. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s global security team: @dave_brown24, @HeidiVogt, @jessicameyers, @RosiePerper, @nahaltoosi, @PhelimKine, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @reporterjoe, @JackDetsch, @samuelskove, @magmill95, and @johnnysaks130
| | FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY — TRUMP’S LIKELY AFRICA ENVOY: Trump is expected to pick longtime Republican Africa expert J. PETER PHAM to be his top State Department official overseeing U.S.-African affairs, according to three people familiar with the matter. All were granted anonymity to discuss internal transition matters. Pham served as special envoy to the Sahel and Great Lakes region of Africa during Trump’s first term. If confirmed, Pham would be tasked with dealing with some of the thorniest U.S. national security issues on the next administration’s docket, including the ongoing threat of ISIS and other terror groups in Africa, China’s growing geopolitical influence across the continent and Sudan’s deadly civil war. Sudan’s conflict has transformed the country into what is considered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and a hotbed of activity from foreign powers such as Iran, Russia, Egypt and the UAE vying for influence. The Biden administration accused one warring faction in Sudan’s civil war, the Rapid Support Forces militia group, of committing genocide this month — nearly a year after Congressional leaders urged it to do so. A spokesperson for the Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment. Pham declined to comment. MARK YOUR CALENDARS: POLITICO is convening congressional leaders, policy experts and top political power players for a morning of candid conversations and exclusive insights into the forces that will define Washington's next chapter. Politico Playbook: The First 100 Days takes place tomorrow in East Hall of Union Station at 8 a.m. It will feature an interview with Trump ally STEVE BANNON moderated by our own DASHA BURNS and an interview of Speaker Mike Johnson conducted by our own RACHAEL BADE. There will also be a panel on AI and national security with Rep. AMI BERA (D-Calif), Sen. JOHN CURTIS (R-Utah), former Trump assistant secretary of Commerce NAZAK NIKAKHTAR, OpenAI vice president of global affairs CHRIS LEHANE, moderated by our own STEVEN OVERLY. You can register for the fun here.
| | BACON PANS CHINA HACKING: A top cyber lawmaker on Capitol Hill is suggesting that Chinese incursions into U.S. software could be met with U.S. digital retaliations. In an interview with our own MAGGIE MILLER, Rep. DON BACON (R-Neb.) warned Beijing that the U.S. could hack China back after a barrage of reports of Chinese hacker intrusions into key government systems and infrastructure. “We're gonna be in your networks, causing mischief, and two could play this game,” Bacon told Maggie. Bacon, who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies and Innovation, hopes to push the Pentagon to be “more aggressive” in its cyber offensive efforts. “It doesn't have to be vocal, but China needs to know that we're going back in [their networks]. Speak softly, but carry a big-ass stick and let China know that, ‘Hey, you're not gonna get by with just doing the shit you're doing,’” Bacon said.
| | HEGSETH’S MILLIONS: Financial disclosures released today show that Trump’s nominee to be secretary of Defense, Fox News host PETE HEGSETH, made more than $5 million over the past two years. As our own PAUL McLEARY reports (for Pros!), most of the money came from his job hosting the weekend edition of Fox and Friends. But Hegseth made roughly half of a million dollars to write two books — $150,000 for his book Battle for the American Mind and $348,000 for his other book, The War on Warriors. In February of 2023, Hegseth also was paid $150,000 by the American Legislative Exchange Council, which describes itself as a “nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets and federalism,” the largest honorarium as part of his income as a paid speaker. The documents, which only cover 2023 and 2024, do not contain additional information about his income at the helm of veteran advocacy organization Concerned Veterans for America, which he left in January 2016. Hegseth was accused of financial mismanagement during his leadership of the organization. He has denied those claims.
| | INTERSTELLAR CONGRESSIONAL WARFARE: Tech mogul ELON MUSK’s dreams of a U.S. mission to Mars are being kept from entering warp speed by an unlikely group: congressional space aficionados. As our own SAM SKOVE reports, Musk wants a mission to Mars to bypass a planned U.S. return to the Moon, but members of Congress, including some of Trump’s Republican allies, want NASA to stick to the existing plan: A lunar mission by 2027. The “moon firsters” argue that pursuing lunar exploration first preserves existing jobs, supports a “lunar economy” and helps the U.S. outcompete China in space. The disagreements could pit the prominent Trump ally against some of the biggest advocates for space exploration in Washington. For now, Trump hasn’t publicly chosen a side, but he has since shown increased interest in Mars.
| | MADURO’S FIGHTING WORDS: Venezuelan leader NICOLÁS MADURO is vowing that Caracas — together with Cuba and Nicaragua — will launch an “armed offensive” against foreign interventions. Maduro, who was sworn in for a third term on Friday following an election widely condemned by international actors as rigged, warned in a speech that the three countries are preparing “so that if one day we have to take up arms and defend the right to peace and sovereignty, we will fight in an armed struggle and win again.” “We are not lukewarm leaders, we are the Bolivarian revolution,” he added, before insulting former Colombian Presidents ALVARO URIBE and IVAN DUQUE, who had called for an international mission to overthrow Maduro and restore democracy in the South American country.
| | — RACHEL BRANDENBURG is now Washington managing director and senior fellow at Israel Policy Forum. She formerly worked for then-Rep. ELISSA SLOTKIN and the Defense Department. — ALYSSA PETTUS has joined the House select committee on the Chinese Communist Party as communications director for the committee’s chair, Rep. JOHN MOOLENAAR (R-Mich). — KATE KÄUFER is retiring from the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee after 20 years as a professional staff member and clerk, having spent her entire Senate career serving in the majority, to launch KMK Global Strategies as president and founder. — ALEX HOWARD has joined Washington Gas leading public affairs in D.C. He previously served as assistant press secretary and spokesperson at the Department of Homeland Security and previously worked for AT&T, Bloomberg Industry Group, HILLARY CLINTON and the Obama White House.
| | | — SUMMER SAID, ANAT PELED and RORY JONES, The Wall Street Journal: Hamas has another Sinwar. And he’s rebuilding. — KURT VOLKER, The Cipher Brief: How Trump could end the Ukraine war — KEN OPALO, An Africanist Perspective: International recognition for Somaliland should be conditioned on concrete economic and political reforms
| | — Brookings Institution, 9 a.m.: Launch of its flagship report "Foresight Africa: Top priorities for Africa 2025-2030." — Senate Armed Services Committee, 9:30 a.m.: A hearing on the expected nomination of Pete Hegseth to be Defense secretary — International Institute for Strategic Studies, 10 a.m.: A book discussion on “Strategy and Grand Strategy," which examines "the implications for war and peace at a time of extraordinary technological change." — Wilson Center's Africa Program, 10:30 a.m.: Trendlines and transformations in African democratic governance: Lessons for 21st-Century U.S.-Africa relations — United States Institute of Peace, the American Enterprise Institute, the Atlantic Council, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Center for American Progress, and Heritage Foundation, 12:30 p.m.: “Passing the Baton: Securing America's Future in an Era of Strategic Competition” with incoming national security adviser Rep. Mike Waltz and outgoing national security adviser Jake Sullivan — Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2 p.m.: A discussion with undersecretary of Commerce ALAN ESTEVEZ on "Reflecting on the Commerce Department's Role in Protecting Critical Technology.” — Atlantic Council, 2 p.m.: “Maximizing the impact of special operation forces for future strategic challenges” with assistant secretary of Defense CHRISTOPHER MAIER Thanks to our editor, Heidi Vogt, who should never be considered for a job at the National Security Council. Thanks to our producer, Gregory Svirnovskiy, who should be named White House national security adviser some day. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
