Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been cast on two national security jobs at a time as President Trump advances bottom remodeling from the top of US foreign policy, overturning not only the long-standing policies once supported by former Florida senators, but also the composition of the enforcement department.
Rubio’s appointment, which Trump temporarily replaced Mike Waltz as a national security adviser, is the first major leadership reform of his second administration, but the removal of the waltz has been rumoured for weeks – he created a signal group chat, and by chance added journalists to a conversation in which national security authorities shared sensitive military plans.
Therefore, more than 100 days after his tenure as America’s top diplomat, Rubio became the second person to hold both positions. He only tracks down the late Henry Kissinger, who served as both Secretary of State and National Security Adviser for two years under President Nixon and Ford in the 1970s.
Rubio – former Trump rival, ridden by the president as “Little Marco” during the 2016 presidential election, Hawkish conservatives have proven to be skilled at aligning themselves with Trump’s “America-First” foreign policy position. Since taking over the State Department, Rubio has eschewed his solid advocacy of providing foreign aid and promoting democracy abroad, reiterating that all policies or programs will make America safer, stronger, or more prosperous.
Rubio leads during Trump’s massive change
Since confirmed in the 99-0 Senator’s floor vote, Rubio has primarily sided with a fundamental reorganization of the State Department. This includes the demolition of the US International Development Agency and plans to cut US employment by 15% while closing or consolidating more than 100 stations around the world. He has also started a major ull in the visa system, revoking hundreds, if not hundreds, if not thousands, of those issued to foreign students.
He oversees negotiations for a contract to send immigrants accused of crimes to third countries, particularly El Salvador, if they are currently being challenged in federal courts.
“Marco Rubio, incredible,” Trump said Thursday before he announced on social media that Waltz had been appointed ambassador to the United Nations, and that Rubio will take over as interim national security adviser. “When I have a problem, I call Marco and he will solve it.”
This is far from 2016 when Rubio and Trump were competing to nominate GOP president, and Rubio warned that Trump was a threat. The relationship was controversial after Trump won, but eight years later, Rubio was a passionate Trump supporter who worked genuinely in Florida to enter the president’s inner circle.
But even after Rubio was nominated for top diplomatic work, doubt remained. Many commentators have suggested that he will last only a short time before he dismissed him, just as Trump left his first Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
But Rubio is resilient. And as of Thursday, he will oversee both the State Department and the National Security Council. The National Security Council is responsible for coordinating the foreign policy functions of all administrative sectors, from diplomacy to military and intelligence reporting.
Thomas Wright, an NSC employee in the Biden administration who is now a senior fellow at the Brookings facility, said he is “more than a full-time job” at the National Security Adviser Post Office alone.
“It’s very difficult to understand the idea that you can do this job part-time,” Wright said.
He said he watched national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his assistant research 14-15 hours a day, six-7 days a week.
Rubio has so far said little about his additional role
Rubio, who appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Hanity” on Thursday night, was not asked to consider the president’s decision to tap him as a national security adviser, joked that he was banned because of his marriage.
However, when he marked the first 100 days of Trump’s latest term, Rubio praised his vision to the president.
“I pay tribute to the trust president that President Trump has placed on me and I am proud of the work the State Department has done over the past 100 days to implement his agenda and put Americans first.”
Dan Gelber, a Democrat who is one of Rubio’s former Florida State Capitol colleagues, said of the increased responsibility, “Marco is probably one of the more reliable ministers to some extent, if not the most reliable.”
“And I can only believe that these qualities are even more important to the convergence of his current position and his growing portfolio,” Gelber said. “He’s not a mixed chaos guy. I’ve always wondered what he’d do with an administration where there seems to be so much confusion, and that’s why he’s getting all these positions.”
Rubio’s dual hat role works primarily as a proxy administrator for the closed USAID and as a proxy director for the National Archives. It places him in a similar position to Trump’s longtime personal friend and golf buddy Steve Witkoff.
As a special envoy, Witkov is the US leader negotiator in Iran’s nuclear talks and administration’s peace efforts for the Israel-Hamas War and the Ukraine-Russian War.
In many ways, Rubio and Witkov follow in the footsteps of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who played multiple roles in the first administration, leading up to dealing with Middle Eastern peace with Latin America and immigration.
How Rubio’s expanded obligations are viewed at the State Department
State Department officials seemed surprised that Trump appointed Rubio as national security adviser. Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said at a briefing Thursday that she learned the news from a journalist who asked about Trump’s post minutes after appearing on social media.
However, officials have noted that Rubio has spent more and more in the White House in recent weeks from his gorgeous seven-story state department office known as “Mahogany Row,” a corridor known for its wooden panels.
At the same time, these officials, who spoke on the condition of discussing personnel shifts on the condition of anonymity, said they did not expect Rubio’s obligations to change significantly as Secretary of State. He is still planning to travel on a foreign diplomatic mission, and they said he will likely delegate at least some of the NSC management to others.
Lee and Amiri write for the Associated Press. Amiri reported from the United Nations.
