WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump moved to build his national security team Tuesday, announcing that he has nominated Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth to serve as secretary of defense and former Director of National Intelligence John. Ratcliffe will become head of the Central Intelligence Agency.

In a series of announcements, Trump said he had chosen former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel and long-time friend Steven Witkoff as special envoy for the Middle East. Trump also said he would nominate South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to head the Department of Homeland Security and named Bill McGinley, the Cabinet secretary from his first administration, as a White House adviser.

Trump broadcasts a steady stream appointees and candidates So far, his upcoming administration is running faster and as drama-free as his first transition after his victory in 2016. Choosing Hegseth, who had no high-level military or national security experience, was sure to raise questions about his qualifications to lead the department.

Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor to the channel since 2014, and has developed a friendship with Trump, who appears regularly on the show.

If confirmed by the Senate, he would take over the top job during a series of global crises ranging from Russia’s war in Ukraine to ongoing attacks by Iranian proxies in the Middle East to pressures for a ceasefire between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah. and growing concerns about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea.

FILE – Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) takes questions from the media before laying bricks on a new housing complex in the West Bank settlement of Efrat on August 1, 2018. Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was appointed ambassador to Israel. Trump said Tuesday that Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel and that his intended nomination would allow Trump to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with the interests of Israel, which is waging war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. He said he came when he promised he would.(AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Oded Balilty

Hegseth is also the author of “War Against the Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” published earlier this year, and has been outspoken about rooting out what he calls “wokeness” in the military.

According to its blurb, the book combines “his own combat experiences, stories of outrage, and a keen look at how the chain of command became so crooked,” and bills itself as “the key to saving our warriors and winning future wars.” .”

While the Pentagon is considered a coveted, important post in any administration, the defense department was a tumultuous post during Trump’s first term. Five men held the post during their four years in office, only to resign, be fired, or serve a temporary term. In fact, only two of them were approved by the Senate.

In those years, Trump’s relationship with his civilian and military leaders was fraught with tension, confusion, and frustration; because they were trying to soften or even simply interpret presidential tweets and statements that blindsided them with sudden policy decisions they were not prepared to explain or defend. Many of the generals (both active duty and retired) who worked in his first administration criticized him as unfit to serve in the Oval Office, and he in turn condemned them.

Hegseth was an infantry captain in the Army National Guard and served overseas in Afghanistan, Iraq and Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay. He was formerly president of Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in Minnesota in 2012.

He also defended the case four former Blackwater contractors He was convicted of a 2007 shooting rampage in Baghdad that killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians. Them pardoned by Trump is carrying out one of his last acts in office.

“With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on alert; Our Military Will Be Great Again and America Will Never Go Back,” Trump said in a statement. “No one fights harder for the Union, and Pete will be a brave and patriotic defender of our policy of ‘Peace through Strength’.”

Mark Cancian, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Hegseth “has an excellent track record as a noncommissioned officer but lacks the high-level national security experience that secretaries need.” “I guess Trump got tired of fighting with defense secretaries and chose someone loyal to him.” Cancian said his lack of experience could make it difficult for Hegseth to win Senate confirmation.

Noem is a well-known conservative and former member of Congress who has used her two terms to propel a state into a pivotal position in Republican politics. He was also considered a potential presidential candidate but declined to challenge Trump. He instead made an open bid to be elected vice president, but lost that endorsement when Trump chose J.D. Vance as his vice president.

If confirmed, Noem would head an agency that is central to Trump’s sweeping immigration plans and his campaign promise to mass deport immigrants in the United States illegally. It is estimated that 11 million people live in the country illegally.

The Department of Homeland Security is a sprawling agency of 260,000 employees with a broad scope of responsibility, created in the wake of the September 11 attacks. It has been brought together from 22 different institutions to undertake the heavy task of preventing future attacks, and has been subject to constant suggestions that it is too cumbersome and should be disbanded.

Ratcliffe, a former Republican congressman from Texas, served as director of national intelligence in the final months of Trump’s first term and led the U.S. government’s spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. He is a more traditional choice for the job, which requires Senate confirmation, than some rumored loyalists pushed by some Trump supporters.

Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel, and his intended candidacy comes at a time when Trump has vowed to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel’s interests, as Israel wages war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. came. Witkoff is a Florida real estate investor who chaired Trump’s inaugural committee. He also spent time in the New York real estate world, where Trump first made his mark as a public figure.

As intelligence director, Ratcliffe was criticized by Democrats. Declassification in the final days of the 2020 presidential election Russian intelligence claimed, although admitted, that damaging information about Democrats during the 2016 race may not have been true.

Ratcliffe’s visibility increased as he emerged in 2019 A fierce defender of Trump during the House’s first impeachment proceedings against him. He was a member of Trump’s impeachment advisory team and vigorously questioned witnesses during the impeachment hearings.

“This is the weakest, fastest, weakest impeachment process our country has ever seen,” Ratcliffe said after the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump. He also forcibly questioned former special counsel Robert Mueller as he testified before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“I look forward to John being the first person to serve in our nation’s highest Intelligence position,” Trump said in a statement. “He will be a fearless warrior for the Constitutional Rights of all Americans while ensuring the Highest Level of National Security and PEACE THROUGH FORCE.”

Huckabee has been organizing paid tour group visits to Israel for years and frequently advertises the trips in conservative-leaning news outlets.

“Mike has been a great public servant, Governor and Faith Leader for many years,” Trump said in a statement. “He loves Israel and the people of Israel, and the people of Israel love him as well. Mike will work tirelessly to achieve Peace in the Middle East!”

David Friedman, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Israel during his first term, said he was “thrilled” by Trump choosing Huckabee.

Witkoff is also the president-elect’s golf partner and was with him when he was the target of a second assassination attempt at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September.

Trump’s transition team did not elaborate on his Middle East envoy role, but Trump said in a statement that “Steve will be a relentless Voice of PEACE and will make us all proud.”

Witkoff’s selection follows Trump’s pattern of placing people close to him in key roles in his Middle East portfolio. Eight years ago, he appointed former corporate lawyer Jason Greenbaltt as his special representative on international negotiations and relied on son-in-law Jared Kushner as his personal envoy for talks in the region.

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Miller reported from Washington and Colvin from New York. Lolita C. Baldor, Rebecca Santana and Tara Copp contributed from Washington.

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