← Chronicle · Succession · May 1, 2025

Marco Rubio Becomes Acting National Security Advisor

Marco Rubio added a second hat on May 1, 2025: the Secretary of State became acting National Security Advisor, succeeding Mike Waltz. Waltz had served as National Security Advisor from January to May 2025 and was removed after the Signal group-chat episode; President Trump nominated him the same day, May 1, 2025, for Ambassador to the United Nations (see the September 19, 2025 entry for his confirmation).

Rubio ran the State Department and the National Security Council together in the acting arrangement for nearly seventeen months — the interim that the Waltz confirmation entry records — until the role was made permanent on September 22, 2026 (see the September 22, 2026 entry). He is the second person to hold the State and National Security Advisor jobs together, after Henry Kissinger.

Sources: Trump Team Report roster audit, research cluster A (banked 2026-10-18): Rubio acting National Security Advisor from May 1, 2025; Marco Rubio profile, this site (role status research: acting NSA from May 1, 2025, succeeding Mike Waltz); Mike Waltz confirmation entry, this chronicle (Waltz NSA January to May 2025; nominated for the UN post May 1, 2025).