President-elect chooses Pentagon and CIA chiefs

President-elect Donald Trump moved to build out his foreign policy team yesterday, announcing he is nominating Fox News host and army veteran Pete Hegseth to serve as his defence secretary and John Ratcliffe, former director of National Intelligence, to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.

In a flurry of announcements, Mr Trump said he had chosen former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel and his longtime friend Steven Witkoff to be a special envoy to the Middle East. Mr Trump also named Bill McGinley, his cabinet secretary in his first administration, as his White House counsel.

Mr Trump is rolling out a steady stream of appointees and nominees for his upcoming administration, working thus far at a faster pace and without as much drama as his first transition following his 2016 victory.

Mr Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends Weekend and has been a contributor with the network since 2014, where he developed a friendship with Mr Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. He is also the author of The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.

Mr Hegseth was an infantry captain in the army national guard and served overseas in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was formerly head of the Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and he unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in Minnesota in 2012.

“With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – our military will be great again, and America will never back down,” Mr Trump said in a statement. “Nobody fights harder for the troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy.”