Politics
Trump Officially Picks His New National Security Adviser
President Donald Trump has formally made Secretary of State Marco Rubio his national security adviser, cementing a rare dual role at the center of the administration’s foreign policy operation.
Trump recently signed a commission making Rubio’s appointment permanent, according to White House and administration officials.
Rubio had already been serving as acting national security adviser since May 2025, when Trump tapped him to replace Mike Waltz on an interim basis while Rubio continued running the State Department.
The move makes Rubio the first person since Henry Kissinger to serve simultaneously as secretary of state and national security adviser.
Rubio will continue managing the National Security Council process while also serving as one of Trump’s closest advisers on foreign policy, intelligence and defense matters.
Waltz left the national security adviser post in May 2025 after the controversy that became known as “Signalgate.”
The scandal erupted after Waltz mistakenly added The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief to a private Signal group chat where senior administration officials discussed planned military operations against Houthi forces in Yemen.
Great news out of the White House today.
President Trump has officially named Secretary of State Marco Rubio as National Security Adviser, making permanent the dual role he’s already been carrying since May 2025.
He’s now only the second person in American history to hold both… pic.twitter.com/YP4bWbUv3j
— Jan (@Jan812314) September 22, 2026
Waltz later became the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Donald Trump has repeatedly praised Rubio’s ability to handle multiple assignments inside the administration.
“When I have a problem, I call up Marco. He gets it solved,” the president said last year after he tapped Rubio to replace Waltz in an acting capacity.
Rubio’s expanded portfolio has made him one of the administration’s most prominent officials, with responsibilities stretching across diplomacy and national security.
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His workload has also become the subject of online jokes over just how many assignments the former Florida senator has taken on during Trump’s second term.
Marco Rubio has also been mentioned publicly as a possible contender in the 2028 Republican presidential field, though he has said he is not currently planning a campaign.
“I don’t know what the future holds, but I have no plans at this time,” Rubio said in an interview with Colombian news station RCN, translated by NBC News. “I’m not a candidate for anything right now. And I’m 100 percent focused on my job, and I have to be because I have two jobs.”
The signed commission ends more than a year of interim status and formally locks Rubio into both posts.
With the appointment now permanent, Rubio remains secretary of state while also overseeing the White House’s national security process and serving as a direct line to Trump on major global crises and strategic decisions.
