Washington: Republican Representative Mike Waltz, a veteran Army Green Beret and vocal critic of China, has been appointed as President-elect Donald Trump's national security adviser, two people familiar with the situation told Reuters on Monday.
Waltz, a Trump supporter who was a colonel in the National Guard, has expressed the necessity for the United States to be prepared for a possible conflict in the Asia-Pacific region and has criticised Chinese actions in the region.
Senate confirmation is not necessary for the influential position of national security adviser. Waltz will be in charge of working with various agencies and providing Trump with briefings on important national security matters, Reuters reported.
While publicly applauding Trump's foreign policy stances, Waltz has criticised the Biden administration for a failed 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“Disruptors are often not nice ... frankly our national security establishment and certainly a lot of people that are dug into bad old habits in the Pentagon need that disruption,” Waltz said during an event earlier this year.
“Donald Trump is that disruptor,” he said.
Waltz has a lengthy history in Washington's political circles. He served as the defence strategy director for Defence Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates until being elected to Congress in 2018. He chairs the House Armed Services subcommittee on military logistics and serves on the select committee on intelligence.
Waltz also serves on the Republican China Task Force and has claimed that the US military is not adequately prepared for warfare in the Indo-Pacific region.
Waltz drew forth a five-part strategy for preventing war with China in a book published earlier this year titled "Hard Truths: Think and Lead Like a Green Beret," which included arming Taiwan faster, reassuring Pacific allies, and modernising planes and ships.
Waltz has stated that his perspective on Ukraine has changed. Following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, he urged the Biden administration to give more weapons to Kyiv to assist them beat back Russian forces. However, during an event last month, Waltz stated that the United States' aims in Ukraine needed to be reassessed.
“Is it in America’s interest, are we going to put in the time, the treasure, the resources that we need in the Pacific right now badly?” Waltz asked.
Waltz has applauded Trump for encouraging NATO countries to increase defence spending, but unlike the president-elect, he has not urged that the United States withdraw from the alliance.
“Look we can be allies and friends and have tough conversations,” Waltz said last month.