SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
President-elect Trump assembled his national security team in a series of rapid-fire choices this week. Several are known more for their enthusiastic support of Mr. Trump than their experience in foreign policy or intelligence. NPR's national security correspondent Greg Myre rejoins us. Greg, thanks so much for being with us.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
SIMON: Help us put some of these selections into perspective. Tulsi Gabbard nominated for director of national intelligence. She is a veteran and a former Democratic lawmaker.
MYRE: Yeah. She would be responsible for overseeing all 18 intelligence agencies. And, you know, just four years ago, Scott, she was a congresswoman from Hawaii, ran for the Democratic presidential nomination. But then she quit the party and became this huge Trump supporter. She's never worked in the intelligence community and has taken a number of very controversial foreign policy positions. You know, just days after Russia's massive 2022 invasion of Ukraine, she took to social media and called the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. to, quote, "embrace the spirit of aloha, respect and love." Now, if confirmed, she'll be one of the president's top advisers on this war. And, Scott, I just want to quickly mention another nominee, John Ratcliffe, to head the CIA. He served briefly as director of national intelligence in Trump's first term, but only after a big battle with Democrats who said he lacked experience. We're hearing that same criticism again.
SIMON: In his first term, Donald Trump chose more traditional experience figures who were sometimes described as the adults in the room. Why the different approach now?
MYRE: Yeah. Trump felt he was being undermined in his first term by security officials with the Russian investigations into the 2016 presidential election. He openly quarreled with them. You know, one really memorable moment was when Trump stood next to Vladimir Putin at a summit in Finland and said he believed the Russian leader and not the U.S. intelligence agency when Putin said he hadn't interfered in the U.S. election. You know, Trump just cycled through multiple national security officials, and he increasingly chose loyalists at the end of his first term, and that's where we're starting the second term. I asked Ian Bremmer, the global affairs analyst who runs the Eurasia Group, how he sees Trump's new national security team.
IAN BREMMER: Lighter experience generally would be perceived as less capable on the national security defense and foreign policy space, but clearly more alignment, more loyalty personally to Trump.
SIMON: Greg, what might have inspired Donald Trump's nomination of someone we see, have seen on our monitors here in the studio, Fox News host Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense?
MYRE: Well, Scott, you know, I think you've probably seen him using that perch to criticize the Pentagon brass. He says American troops are poorly served by what he calls woke generals. He says they're more concerned about diversity, gender and cultural issues than the ability to fight wars. He's an outspoken opponent of women in many combat roles. He's aggressively defended U.S. troops convicted of war crimes, and Trump has actually responded by pardoning some of them. He's just 44. He was a major in the Army National Guard. Served in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he's never held a senior position in national security or managed a large organization. He'd be in charge of a defense department that has about 3 million employees worldwide.
SIMON: National security issues don't take a break. And President Trump, from the moment he takes the oath of office, is going to face some tough issues, including Russia's war in Ukraine. What should we expect?
MYRE: Yeah. Trump, on the campaign trail, said he could end this war, the Russia-Ukraine war, in a day, but he hasn't said how he could do this. He could cut military assistance to Ukraine or pressure that country to make territorial concessions. Now, Ian Bremmer says Trump will take a very transactional approach, and he may get some short-term victories here. But he says Trump is unlikely to worry about the broader consequences.
BREMMER: The question is what does that mean long term for America's system of alliances that it's built up over many decades that comes from mutual trust and consistent commitments that the Americans uphold over time? I mean, Trump is likely to do a lot of damage to those institutions long term.
MYRE: So we've discussed Trump's more controversial picks, but we should note he has had some more experienced nominees that he's chosen that do have broad support. They include Florida Senator Marco Rubio, chosen to be secretary of state, and Florida Congressman Mike Waltz, tapped to be the national security adviser.
SIMON: NPR's Greg Myre, thanks so much.
MYRE: Sure thing, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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