With help from Nahal Toosi, Phelim Kine and Daniel Lippman
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The latest drama surrounding President DONALD TRUMP’s National Security Council is exposing fissures between different flanks of the MAGA foreign policy world, according to multiple Trump administration insiders and former Trump officials from his first term.
The tensions have been simmering in the White House for months between the Reaganite, “peace-through-strength” flank of the GOP and so-called restrainers who are more skeptical of existing U.S. alliance systems and military engagements.
It came to a head Thursday when several NSC officials were fired, a day after far-right activist LAURA LOOMER reportedly met with Trump at the White House to allege that some NSC staffers weren’t loyal to his agenda.
But even before that, national security adviser MIKE WALTZ, who many see as the embodiment of the new generation of avowedly pro-Trump Reaganites, had been grappling with battles over his personnel and staffing decisions with “restrainers” elsewhere in the White House, seven people familiar with the matter tell NatSec Daily.
The infighting between these two wings is making it difficult for the Trump administration to staff important NSC positions, which in turn undermines the administration’s ability to craft its national security policy
In multiple instances, Waltz has picked people for senior director positions at the NSC, only to have those picks blocked by the White House Presidential Personnel Office, or PPO, led by SERGIO GOR, a former staffer of Sen. RAND PAUL (R-Ky.). As head of the PPO, Gor wields immense behind-the-scenes influence on vetting and approving roughly 4,000 appointees that could staff the Trump administration.
Three of Waltz’s picks for senior director for African affairs were rejected in a row, according to two of the people familiar with the matter, leaving a key NSC post unfilled for Trump’s crucial first months in office. Other early Waltz picks, including for senior NSC jobs overseeing strategic planning and nuclear weapons policies, were also blocked, these people said.
“From the get-go, there’s ideological fissures inside of the White House built in,” said one of the people familiar with the internal White House dynamics. “Sergio Gor is a Rand Paul guy. Mike Waltz is the opposite.”
“I think Susie Wiles could stop this if she wanted to,” the person added, referring to Trump’s chief of staff. This person said there are lists circulating with more names of officials that Gor and other Trump loyalists would like to see removed from the NSC. “I don’t think Trump knows or cares.”
These tensions have only escalated following revelations that Waltz accidentally added a journalist to a Signal group chat with Cabinet members on coordinating U.S. airstrikes on Yemen.
“It’s a war in there between Sergio’s and Waltz’s worldviews,” said one pro-Trump foreign policy expert in close contact with the White House.
A spokesperson for the NSC declined to comment on internal personnel matters.
The latest round of NSC firings drew backlash and anger from some Republican congressional aides and other pro-Trump Republican foreign policy experts who are in routine touch with the White House.
“This is going to have a chilling effect. Who’s going to want to put their name in the ring for an NSC job now? It’s so, so beyond the pale,” said the pro-Trump foreign policy expert. “The president’s entire national security policy is being totally, totally undermined by these outside influencers in these bizarre loyalty tests that aren’t actually measuring loyalty to the president,” the person added.
The NSC firings have caught the attention of senior Democratic lawmakers. “It is a terrible idea to let a far-right conspiracy theorist determine who continues to serve on the National Security Council rather than the national security adviser,” said Sen. CHRIS COONS (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Even some Republicans on the Hill aren’t hiding their disappointment. “Loomer is the last person we should be taking advice from,” said Rep. DON BACON (R-Neb.) in a text to NatSec Daily.
Trump this afternoon departed from the White House on Marine One to begin a trip to Florida. Both Waltz and Gor joined him on the helicopter.
LIBERATION DAY COMES TO ROOST: Trump’s (interestingly calculated) reciprocal tariffs are being met with a predictable backlash from key trading partners around the world.
The European Union vowed to respond to a 20 percent tariff the U.S. imposed on European goods and services Wednesday. Canadian Prime Minister MARK CARNEY said his country will impose “carefully calibrated and targeted counter tariffs” focusing on the auto industry. And China has demanded Trump pull the tariffs lest the United States face a harsh levy on its own goods.
Some countries are working to mitigate Trump’s anger, including Mexico, India and South Korea, and are looking to band together to stave off the impact. But the tariffs, even if they go away for major trading partners, could add further scars to U.S. ties with European allies.
“If anything, the blanket tariffs will hasten the transatlantic breakdown taking place since Trump took office,” said RACHEL RIZZO, an analyst with the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington. “If this trade war stays in place, or even worse, escalates, it only underlines the necessity for Europe to provide for itself and for its own security. … It needs to quickly rearm, invest in its defense industrial base, and expand its military power as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
ICYMI — Sweeping US tariffs hit some tiny targets around the world by our colleague Ali Bianco
RUBIO IN EUROPE: Speaking of European defense, while the transatlantic economic relationship faces some new cracks, Secretary of State MARCO RUBIO is in Europe trying to throw cold water on doubters about the future of the other transatlantic relationship.
Before a meeting with NATO Secretary-General MARK RUTTE, Rubio accused the media of “hysteria and hyperbole” regarding Trump’s support for NATO. Rubio pointed to the confirmation of MATTHEW WHITAKER to be ambassador to NATO and insisted that Trump wants a “strong” and “viable” NATO alliance where members are spending closer to 5 percent of GDP on defense.
“He’s not against NATO, he is against a NATO that does not have the capability that it needs to fulfill the obligations that the treaty imposes upon each and every member state,” Rubio said. “No one expects you’re going to be able to do this in one year or two. But the pathway has to be real. This is a hard truth, but it is a basic one that needs to be said now.”
MANILA AND BEIJING’S ESPIONAGE WOES: Beijing and Manila may be engaging in a tit-for-tat campaign of arrests of suspected spies, our own Phelim Kine writes in.
Chinese state media is trumpeting the arrests of three Philippine citizens for alleged espionage. Chinese security forces determined that the three engaged in “espionage and intelligence-gathering activities,” the tabloid Global Times reported today. Those arrests just happen to coincide with a flurry of recent arrests of suspected Chinese intelligence agents in the Philippines.
Philippines authorities have arrested 12 Chinese citizens for suspected espionage since January, Radio Free Asia reported last month. Beijing is explicitly connecting those competing arrests to ensure everyone gets the point.
“Recently the Philippines concocted a series of so-called Chinese spy cases — this is a typical act of stigmatization and politicization based on presumption of guilt in the absence of clear evidence,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson LIN JIAN said when asked about the Filipinos’ arrest.
Related: US bans government personnel in China from romantic or sexual relations with Chinese citizens by The Associated Press’ Dake Kang, Matthew Lee and Didi Tang
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ABOUT THOSE VISA REVOCATIONS: On Wednesday, your favorite newsletter touched on the State Department’s decision to revoke the visa of former Costa Rican President ÓSCAR ARIAS SÁNCHEZ. The State Department offered no reason for the revocation, but it turns out there may be a connection with the Chinese telecom giant Huawei.
NatSec Daily readers flagged that Arias wasn’t the only Costa Rican official to lose his visa in recent weeks. So too did Costa Rican deputies JOSÉ FRANCISCO NICOLÁS ALVARADO, JOHANA OBANDO and CYNTHIA CÓRDOBA. The U.S. also revoked the visa of ANA SOFÍA MACHUCA, the auditor-general of the state-run Costa Rican electricity and telecommunications company.
What they all have in common is that current Costa Rican President RODRIGO CHAVES has accused the group of essentially lobbying on behalf of, or favoring, Huawei, which has sought to increase its footprint in the Central American country. Chaves notably slammed Arias’ brother, RODRIGO ARIAS SÁNCHEZ, as “the Chinese one” for backing Huawei’s efforts. The former Costa Rican president has also bashed Chaves for ceding to pressure from Washington to reject Chinese investment in developing the country’s technical infrastructure.
Washington has deemed Huawei a national security threat and has been pressuring countries in the Western Hemisphere to ditch the Chinese telecom giant as a partner in developing infrastructure.
Regardless, the pattern of recent entry restrictions and visa revocations signal that the Trump administration may be willing to use unconventional levers to punish Latin American officials pursuing policies they dislike and embracing China in the process. And it indicates how much the Trump administration is prioritizing the region.
Huawei and the State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
JAPAN’S NEW TOYS: Japan is developing missile systems that will allow it to repel an invasion, a sign of continued Indo-Pacific anxieties about Chinese aggression.
Per Defense News’ Leilani Chavez, Japanese firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will develop new long-range, precision-guided missiles for the Japanese military. The missiles, which will be ready by 2032, will be used to “prevent and eliminate invading troops,” per a statement from the Japanese Ministry of Defense.
It’s the latest major Japanese defense acquisition in the face of renewed threats from Beijing.
Since 2022, Tokyo has gone on a spending spree to improve its military capabilities. Much of that has focused on partnering with the United States. Japan announced last year it would purchase 400 additional Tomahawk missiles from the U.S. and earlier this week announced its latest missile co-production project with the U.S. to develop AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles.
FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY — SENATE SIGNAL LETTER: Four first-term Democratic senators with national security bona fides are requesting White House chief of staff SUSIE WILES furnish more information about the other Signal chats Waltz created and his use of Gmail. It follows Wednesday’s scoop from our colleague Dasha Burns about Waltz’s use of as many as 20 other Signal chats.
In a letter sent to the White House today, led by Sen. ADAM SCHIFF (D-Calif.) and signed by Sens. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-Ariz.), ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-Mich.) and ANDY KIM (D-N.J.), the senators lambasted Wiles and other top Trump administration officials for not expressing “surprise, confusion, or unease at having been added to such a group on a commercially available messaging application that is downloaded for use on unclassified electronic devices.”
Slotkin was a CIA analyst before running for office, while Kim had worked for the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the White House National Security Council. Gallego served in the Marines, and Schiff was the long-time top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
The four also urged Wiles to preserve communication on Signal, Gmail and other platforms and reply with an accounting of “all other national security-related communications that Mr. Waltz or other senior White House officials initiated or participated in using Signal, Gmail, or other commercially available platforms” by next Thursday.
The letter, shared first with NatSecDaily, speaks to the staying power of the scandal, even as the White House tries to move away from the story and insists that Democrats and the media are sensationalizing the nature of the chat and the communications therein.
By the way: These four are far from the only Democrats speaking out. Sen. MARK KELLY (D-Ariz.) told our colleague Anne McElvoy on today’s PowerPlay podcast that he and other Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee felt that Director of National Intelligence TULSI GABBARD and CIA Director JOHN RATCLIFFE were “not being totally transparent with us” on the scope of the Signalgate breach.
You can listen to the whole interview on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts.
PERDUE TALKS TOUGH: Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to China, former Georgia Sen. DAVID PERDUE, gave a stark assessment of Beijing’s existential threat during his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, Phelim also writes in.
Perdue told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that China’s leader XI JINPING is executing a strategy to weaken the U.S. both domestically and overseas that includes propaganda and penetration of ports and power grids.
“This is a new kind of war. It’s not a Cold War, it’s not a kinetic war, it’s a different war,” Perdue said. “Marxist nationalism is reshaping China, and their global ambitions threaten the current world order,” he added.
And they align with a bipartisan consensus about China’s potential threat; neither GOP nor Democratic committee members pushed back on his assertions. That suggests he’s on a glide path to confirmation.
THE ICC ON BLAST: It was a rough day for the International Criminal Court, as it faces an expanding internal probe into misconduct from chief prosecutor KARIM KHAN and new attacks from former member states.
Reuters’ Stephanie van den Berg and Anthony Deutsch report that U.N. investigators are probing whether Khan retaliated against members of his staff who reported him for alleged sexual misconduct. Khan is accused of demoting four staffers in the wake of reports he acted inappropriately towards a female employee at the ICC.
In a written statement, Khan’s attorneys told Reuters they rejected all allegations of wrongdoing and said he “looks forward to cooperating fully and transparently with the external investigation.”
Meanwhile, Hungary officially announced it would exit the ICC today, a move Prime Minister VIKTOR ORBÁN announced on the occasion of Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU’s visit to Budapest. Orbán called the international tribunal in The Hague a “political court,” to cheers from Netanyahu, who faces war crimes charges over the Israeli military’s conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip.
— The Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology has named BRETT FREEDMAN its inaugural senior director of emerging technology. Freedman is a senior adviser at WestExec, adviser at the Washington Office and previously worked for the Justice Department, National Security Agency and the Senate Intelligence Committee.
— Becca Wasser and Philip Sheers, Center for a New American Security: From Production Lines to Front Lines Revitalizing the U.S. Defense Industrial Base for Future Great Power Conflict
— Dan Bloom, Graham Lanktree and Emilio Casalicchio, POLITICO: Donald Trump doesn’t do special relationships. Britain will keep trying anyway.
— Sen. ROGER WICKER (R-Miss.), The Washington Post: We must beef up our defenses now — and fix the Pentagon, too
— Gabriel Noronha, Jewish Institute for National Security of America: Iran Sanctions, UN Security Council Resolution 2231, and the Path to Snapback
— National Institute for Deterrence Studies, 7:45 a.m.: “The Sea Based Nuclear Deterrent and Strategic Systems Program.”
— Georgetown University, 9 a.m.: China-Africa Engagement and Impacts on Peace and Security.
— Hudson Institute, 10 a.m.: Mexico Navigates New Challenges
— Wilson Center’s Middle East Program, 10:30 a.m.: A film screening and discussion on “Artifact War,” a documentary on “the illicit antiquities network operated by ISIS.”
— Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2 p.m.: The Constitutional Court Decides Yoon’s Fate
Thanks to our editors, Heidi Vogt and Emily Lussier, who should be fired immediately for their palpable disloyalty.
