The recent appointment of Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a proxy national security advisor has made him the first individual to hold both positions since Henry Kissinger in the 1970s.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced Rubio’s dual role while nominating Mike Waltz, who is currently the National Security Adviser, as the UN ambassador.
In addition to his new responsibilities, Rubio also serves as a proxy administrator for the United States International Development Agency (USAID) and as a proxy archivist for the United States.
Watch – Rubio criticizes a judge attempting to impose foreign policy over President Trump.
There hasn’t been another Secretary of State with a role as national security advisor since Kissinger, who served from September 1973 to November 1975. He was the advisor during the Nixon administration and continued in the Ford administration.
A few months before stepping into the Secretary of State role, Kissinger brokered a ceasefire in the Vietnam War, for which he and North Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc Thau were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
“There is no other honour comparable. The final test of a politician is, after all, whether he contributed to the happiness of humanity,” Kissinger reflected in later years.
Similar to Kissinger’s efforts, Rubio and the Trump administration are aiming for a ceasefire in the ongoing Russian-Ukraine conflict. Meanwhile, they are also focused on fostering peace in the Middle East and keeping a close watch on China.
Shortly after his appointment as national security adviser, Rubio appeared on Fox News with Sean Hannity to discuss the current situation between Russia and Ukraine.
“Look, we’re getting closer. I mean, for the first time in three years, we can see what it takes for Ukraine to halt. We can also see what is needed for the Russians to stop. But the challenge is that there’s still a bit of distance between these two positions,” he remarked.
Rubio further emphasized that the president must determine how much attention should be allocated to this issue, particularly as other significant foreign policy concerns arise.
We won’t abandon it in the sense that we’re willing to assist if possible. But there comes a point where the president needs to decide how much time to invest at the highest levels of our government. It’s not that the conflict in Ukraine isn’t important, but I consider the situation with China to be more crucial for the world’s future. And then, of course, there are Iran’s nuclear ambitions. So, at some stage, it must either progress or be left behind. That’s a choice the president has to make.
Rubio elaborated further.
