The next is a transcript of an interview with Rep. Michael Waltz, Republican of Florida, Trump’s choose for nationwide safety adviser, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Dec. 15, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We start with Congressman Mike Waltz of Florida, who’s the incoming White Home Nationwide Safety Adviser. Good morning to you.
REP. MIKE WALTZ (R-FL): Morning. Margaret. Robust day for Military, however nice day for America.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Certainly. Nicely as a Inexperienced Beret, I do know you had a purpose to be cheering there for Military, Sir. I wish to ask you various subjects, however earlier than I’m going abroad, you sit on the Home Intelligence Committee. You additionally, due to your new function, are involved with President Biden’s Nationwide Safety Adviser, Jake Sullivan. Do you suppose the general public must be involved about these reported drones all around the East Coast? And have you ever the necessity for extra authority to take care of them?
REP. MIKE WALTZ: Nicely, I feel what the drone difficulty factors out are sort of gaps in our companies, gaps in our authorities between the Division of Homeland Safety, native legislation enforcement, the Protection Division. And I feel Individuals are discovering it laborious to consider we won’t work out the place these are coming from. And I can let you know, from the Protection Division standpoint, you realize, they’re targeted on bombers and cruise missiles, and- and it’s- it is pointing to gaps in our capabilities and in our capacity to clamp down on what is going on on right here. And we have to resolve it, and I feel the Biden administration is- is working to try this.
MARGARET BRENNAN: However at this level, given the intelligence you’ve got seen, is there any purpose for the general public to be apprehensive?
REP. MIKE WALTZ: Nicely, look, when you might have delicate websites like Picatinny Arsenal, you might have, after all, President Trump’s residence at Bedminster, and you’ve got different no-fly areas, these should be enforced. We have to know who’s behind it. However proper now, I feel legislation enforcement appears to be- the Division of Homeland Safety and the Protection Division are sort of all doing this and pointing at one another. So once we are available, you realize, how can we implement these low stage, lengthy loitering, could-be-dangerous drones? And one factor for individuals to understand, you realize, they’re evolving so quickly, it is not essentially someone that is simply on the opposite finish flying it. They could possibly be following pre-positioned GPS coordinates. They could possibly be coming from offshore. And we have to take a tough have a look at our homeland defenses. President Trump has talked about an Iron Dome for America. That should embrace drones as properly, not simply adversarial actions like hypersonic missiles. We have to have an the entire above safety of U.S. airspace.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Understood. Let- let me ask you about China. The President Elect mentioned just a few issues previously week about China, and he mentioned his crew has been “speaking and discussing,” as he put it, with China’s President Xi Jinping. CBS was the primary to report that an invite was prolonged to the inauguration, although we don’t count on Xi to come back. Was that the extent of the backwards and forwards? Do the 2 leaders intend to talk by telephone?
REP. MIKE WALTZ: Nicely, Margaret, it has been wonderful. I imply, your entire world is reaching out to the president. Actually, it has been slightly overwhelming, the outreach, not solely to talk with him, to congratulate him, however to even come to the inauguration themselves. So the outreach has been super. President Trump is taking all calls, as you realize. He believes in having a relationship with allies and adversaries at that sort of head of state stage. And people conversations- these conversations are ongoing, however they’re, actually, nothing past congratulatory and niceties. We’re in communication with the present administration. We do not agree on all issues, however as I’ve mentioned earlier than, none of our adversaries ought to suppose it is a second to make the most of this transition. We do not agree with all issues, however we’re in full coordination with the present administration.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Nicely, China, you mentioned there must be penalties due to their large and pervasive hack of eight U.S. telecom corporations, which has breached the metadata of doubtless hundreds of thousands of Individuals. Senator Marco Rubio mentioned it was egregious, harmful, and a vulnerability that nobody anticipated. You are going to be working collectively. What do you intend for the results to be?
REP. MIKE WALTZ I feel Senator Rubio, and hopefully future Secretary of State Rubio, is totally proper. We’re- we now have been, over time, attempting to play higher and higher protection in relation to cyber. We have to begin happening offense and begin imposing, I feel, greater prices and penalties to non-public actors and nation state actors that proceed to steal our knowledge, that proceed to spy on us, and that even worse, with the Volt Storm penetration, which are actually placing cyber time bombs on our infrastructure, our water programs, our grids, even our ports.That’s wholly unacceptable, and I feel we have to take a a lot stronger stance. Senator Rubio is correct. President Trump has indicated that as properly. We have to begin altering behaviors on the opposite facet, relatively than simply continuously having this type of escalation of their offense and our protection. The Colonial Pipeline hack was one other key level. After which lastly, we have got an amazing non-public sector with quite a lot of functionality. That relationship between private and non-private, with our tech business, they could possibly be doing quite a lot of good and serving to—
MARGARET BRENNAN: So is that this sanctions?
REP. MIKE WALTZ: —us defend, but additionally making our adversaries weak.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Is it sanctions day one from the Trump administration?
REP. MIKE WALTZ: Nicely, I am not going to get forward of every part that we’re doing day one, however taking a special strategy to cyber, our doctrine, and beginning to impose prices on the opposite facet to get them to knock this off, is one thing we’ll be looking at, I feel.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You have been at Mar a Lago this previous week when Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, met with Mr. Trump and Elon Musk and your self. He then introduced that he had spoken to Vladimir Putin. Orbán appears to be floating a Christmas ceasefire and a prisoner swap. Is he carrying with him some sort of message from Donald Trump?
REP. MIKE WALTZ: Nicely, Orbán has common engagement with the Russians, and he clearly has an excellent relationship with President Trump, and I might hope your entire world would wish to see some kind of cessation to the slaughter that’s occurring in japanese Ukraine. I imply, Margaret, individuals want to grasp—
(BEGIN CROSSTALK)
MARGARET BRENNAN: Did Mr. Trump ask him to try this?
REP. MIKE WALTZ: That is World Struggle I style-
(END CROSSTALK)
REP. MIKE WALTZ: That is World Struggle I fashion warfare. It’s a meat grinder of human beings. President Trump’s been very involved in regards to the carnage that is ongoing. And the place is that this all going?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Proper.
REP. MIKE WALTZ: We have to cease the preventing. And, you realize, look, if that’s some kind of ceasefire as a primary step, once more, we’ll- we’ll take a tough have a look at what meaning. However till January 20, we’re additionally in coordination with this present administration.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, so no message was despatched by way of Orbán to Putin by Trump. Is that- that is what I perceive you saying there.
REP. MIKE WALTZ: Oh, I am not going to- yeah, I am not going to get into specifics of again and forths. However, one is speaking, after all, we’ll proceed to speak, and the- President Trump’s made it clear he desires this struggle to cease.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Does the Trump crew plan to restrict how Ukraine can use U.S. weapons or focusing on help while you take workplace?
REP. MIKE WALTZ: Nicely, President Trump simply mentioned within the interview that, you realize, a clean test, in his interview with Time journal, I consider, you realize, a clean test isn’t- you realize, simply is not a technique. This simply, sort of, eternally struggle that we appear to be backing into. What does success appear like in keeping with our pursuits? How can we finish the struggle? Who’s on the desk? How can we drive, you realize, all sides to the desk, and what is the framework for- for an settlement? These are issues that we’re considering by way of together with his unbelievable crew that he is assembling.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Was that mentioned in that 45 minute assembly that Mr. Trump had with Mr. Zelenskyy in Paris final week? And do you assist placing NATO member states as peacekeepers in Ukraine?
REP. MIKE WALTZ: Nicely, you realize what’s been so attention-grabbing, Margaret, is, simply for the reason that election, everybody coming to us, our European allies, President Zelenskyy in that assembly, and others, have shifted to how to- that framework I simply talked about. How can we finish this battle? How can we do it in a method that restores stability, stops the carnage, and hopefully makes this a everlasting finish, not just- not only a pause? These are all issues that we’re considering by way of. And by way of the query you simply requested, the NATO Secretary Basic got here right here to Mar a Lago, he is speaking in regards to the Europeans taking an even bigger function in- whether or not that is on the bottom or in any other case, after this battle is over, and that is precisely what President Trump has been asking for.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I’ve to rapidly ask you in regards to the Center East. Over the past Trump administration, Donald Trump pulled some U.S. troops out of Syria. Does he intend to maintain the 900 U.S. troops there?
REP. MIKE WALTZ: Look, our primary curiosity is retaining a lid on ISIS. We can’t have an explosion of ISIS again right into a caliphate that threatens Iraq, threatens Jordan, threatens Turkey and Europe, conjures up assaults in america, like we noticed in 2014. President Trump cleaned it up then together with his crew. 1000s of ISIS fighters are in jail camps. We’re in session with the Israelis as properly. They’re importantly taking down Assad’s chemical stockpiles, in addition to different issues we do not need falling into the fingers of anyone. And you realize, the opposite piece there that he requested for within the first time period, and that we have to see is, once more, Europe, who was hit so badly by ISIS assaults, taking a better function in retaining ISIS contained. So these are all conversations that we’re having, once more, in session with the present administration, and we’ll see shifting ahead.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman Mike Waltz, thanks for becoming a member of us at present.
