Under President Joe Biden, Jake Sullivan was at the center of all strategic decisions. His successor as national security adviser, Mike Waltz, enjoyed neither the same leeway nor the same tenure. Three months after entering the White House, he is about to hand in his badge, along with his deputy, Alex Wong. Donald Trump did at least arrange an honorable exit for Waltz: He will become the next US ambassador to the United Nations, in New York, an institution the billionaire both ignores and derides.

He will be replaced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will hold a dual role unprecedented since Henry Kissinger (1973-1975). While that is certainly a sign of trust in the former Florida senator, Rubio is nonetheless being tested – he was only named on an interim basis. It also reflects the marginalization of the State Department and the haste that led to Waltz's dismissal.

Revealed by American media on Thursday, May 1, the first major departure in Trump's administration came as something of a surprise. Waltz was significantly weakened by "Signalgate," a scandal revealed by The Atlantic. The magazine's editor-in-chief was mistakenly added to a restricted group on a private messaging app, where top administration officials exchanged classified information about US bombings against the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Waltz's explanations appeared muddled regarding the journalist's addition to the group by one of his assistants. It was Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, however, who communicated the operational details, yet he was not reprimanded by the president.

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