Calling all nat sec wonks: These are the transition positions you should be paying attention to
President-elect Donald Trump’s national security transition team is already taking shape, giving early insights into who could staff his national security and defense team once he takes office in January.
The speculation around Cabinet secretary posts is hogging a lot of attention, but lower-level appointees in the National Security Council, State Department and Pentagon could have outsized influence over the direction of Trump’s foreign policy. And transition officials often end up joining the administration in influential posts.
Here’s who’s in the room or in the mix:
The State Department
Brian Hook, former State Department policy planner and special envoy for Iran, has been tapped to lead the State Department transition team.
The Pentagon
Robert Wilkie, former Veterans Affairs secretary in the first Trump administration, is leading the Defense Department’s transition team.
The White House National Security Council
Joel Rayburn is expected to play a role in Trump’s NSC transition team, several people familiar with internal campaign and transition deliberations said. Rayburn was a Trump appointee for Middle East policy in the State Department and an adviser to Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) — who is himself a leading contender to be Trump’s secretary of state.
Michael Anton is also expected to play a role, several people said. Anton was a former National Security Council spokesperson under Trump. (The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment on this or other positions.)
The intelligence community
Trump’s former director for national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, is involved in transition planning for national security policy. (POLITICO first reported his name and others on this list last week.) Cliff Sims, who served as a deputy director of national intelligence in the first Trump administration, is also playing a leading role in national security and intelligence transition matters, according to the people familiar with internal campaign and transition matters.
Global trade issues
Trump’s former trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, and Lighthizer’s former chief of staff, Jamieson Greer, are playing a leading role in economic and international trade transition policy.
Cybersecurity
Joshua Steinman, a former Trump NSC official, is a leading contender for the NSC’s top cyber policy post. Others who could be involved in the transition’s cybersecurity team and take up top administration posts include Sean Plankey, a former NSC and Energy Department official, and Karen Evans, a former Trump Homeland Security Department official.
One key litmus test that could be a deciding factor for who joins Trump’s national security team once he takes office: Loyalty.
People close to the president-elect aren’t being subtle about how loyalty could matter above all else for job seekers in a second Trump term. As Mike Davis — a contender to be Trump’s attorney general — put it in a post on X:
“Dear Trump Job Seekers: Long time, no chat. Before asking me for help, I am going to ask you to provide me specific and concrete evidence of your łoyalty to Trump. If you cannot provide a lot of that, stop asking me. Political appointments require both competency and loyalty.”
A version of this report first appeared in National Security Daily, our guide to everything happening from the SitRoom to the E-Ring, with the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy. Sign up for the newsletter to get the goods in your inbox.