Rubio promotes Mike Needham, who helped broker Israel-Lebanon talks, to top White House national security post — source

By Reuters 26 May 2026, 7:54 pm

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(L to R) US State Department Counselor Michael Needham, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, Lebanon's Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad, and Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter stand together before meeting at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 14, 2026. (Oliver Contreras / AFP)

US State Department Counselor Michael Needham, a longtime aide to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has been promoted to the post of assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser, a source familiar with the matter says.

In the post, Needham would serve along with Rubio, who is President Donald Trump’s acting national security adviser as well as the top US diplomat.

Needham was chief of staff to Rubio in the US Senate, and before that served as chief executive of Heritage Action for America, a grassroots group dedicated to promoting conservative values and policies.

Needham has been an influential aide to Rubio, who has largely kept a low profile but has been front and center on a number of key policy issues such as US interest in Greenland as well as the first direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in decades.

Axios first reported the appointment.