White House actively working to answer how Rubio will balance 2 top national security roles

The newly appointed interim national security adviser is preparing to stay in that role for up to six months, a person close to him said.

Just over 24 hours after President Donald Trump announced Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be taking on yet another role as interim national security adviser, the White House is actively sorting out how Rubio will juggle it all. The lack of answers on how Rubio will function in the role is at least partially attributable to how quickly the decision came together Thursday morning. As multiple media outlets began reporting that the president was planning to oust Michael Waltz as national security adviser and nominate him as United Nations ambassador, the Trump team had not yet decided to name Rubio as his replacement, multiple people familiar with the decision told CNN. Now, the White House is sorting through a litany of logistical questions, those people said. Will Rubio move into Waltz’s former West Wing office, a coveted first-floor space down the hall from the Oval Office? Will he hire new staff to serve on the national security team? And how much of his State Department portfolio will he hand off to deputy Chris Landau? And on a more existential level: Will the United States’ international standing and safety suffer if the president’s top foreign affairs adviser is also his top adviser on national security? Playing both roles could be incredibly difficult, especially for a president known for shooting from the hip on policy decisions. Henry Kissinger held both titles from 1973-1975, but current and former US officials say that today’s global challenges cannot compare with what the nation faced decades ago. What is clear: Trump’s closest advisers believe Rubio truly will only serve in the role for a temporary period as Trump weighs a more permanent replacement. Rubio is preparing to stay in the role for up to six months, a person who spoke with him said, though that could always change based on Trump’s demands. “The job of national security adviser is like the most important job in Washington,” said Brett McGurk, who has served on multiple national security councils, most recently as former President Joe Biden’s Middle East coordinator.