US President-elect Donald Trump has announced another name for his Trump 2.0 administration – Mike Waltz. Florida Congressman Waltz is set to be Trump’s national security adviser (NSA), the Associated Press reported Monday, citing sources familiar with the development.

The announcement will have a huge impact across the world, except India, as External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar said, “Many countries are nervous (after Trump’s victory), but India is not one of them.”

For those who don’t know, Waltz is the head of the India caucus and has advocated for advancing US defense and security cooperation with India. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the US Congress in June 2023, Waltz cordially invited the Indian Prime Minister.

He was instrumental in coordinating the Indian Prime Minister’s speech on Capitol Hill during his 2023 visit.

He once called India the most “important US partnership”. Citing India’s ban on TikTok, Waltz called on the US to ban the Chinese app.

The Republican congressman is also a strong advocate of improving security and defense ties with India to counter China. He is on the GOP China Task Force and has argued that the US is unprepared for a conflict in the Indo-Pacific.

Mike Waltz, 50, is a hardcore Republican who has also supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Waltz served in the United States Army and retired as a colonel as part of the Green Beret Special Forces unit. He echoed accusations of a “woke” military that is allegedly “soft” and remains “too focused” on diversity and other inclusion programs. He is also a vocal critic of the Joe Biden administration’s move to withdraw troops from Afghanistan in 2021.

The three-term GOP representative was elected to the US House of Representatives for the first time in 2019 and was re-elected last week.

Waltz also serves on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Appropriations.

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In August 2023, he visited India on Independence Day and attended the event at Red Fort, Delhi. During the visit, he spoke to WION’s chief diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibbal on a range of issues, from relations with India, Pakistan and China to condemning the violence in Khalistan.

Waltz criticized China’s alleged economic practices, such as intellectual property theft, unfair trade practices and exploiting US supply chain vulnerabilities.

He has also called for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing to protest China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority in restive Xinjiang and its alleged role in the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic.

(With contributions from agencies)