U.S. President-elect Donald Trump chose loyalists with little experience for several key cabinet positions on Wednesday, stunning some allies and making clear that he is serious about reshaping – and in some cases testing – America’s institutions.

Trump’s choice of congressman Matt Gaetz, 42, for U.S. attorney general, America’s top law enforcement officer, was a surprising pick. The former attorney has never worked in the Justice Department, or as a prosecutor, and was investigated by the Justice Department over sex trafficking allegations. His office said in 2023 that he had been told by prosecutors he would not face criminal charges.

Trump tapped Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. The former Democratic congresswoman-turned-Trump-ally has in the past spoken out against military intervention in the civil war in Syria under former President Barack Obama and implied that Russian President Vladimir Putin had valid grounds for invading Ukraine, America’s ally.

“I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our intelligence community, championing our constitutional rights and securing peace through strength,” Trump said in a statement.

Gabbard has little direct experience with intelligence work and had not been widely expected to be tapped for the post, which oversees 18 spy agencies.

She was deployed in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 as a major in the Hawaii National Guard and is now a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.

On Tuesday, Trump chose Pete Hegseth, a Fox News commentator and veteran, to be his secretary of defense. Hegseth has opposed women in combat roles and questioned whether the top American general was promoted to his position because of his skin color. He also lobbied Trump during his 2017-2021 term to pardon servicemembers who allegedly committed war crimes.

Trump’s cabinet

SUSIE WILES, chief of staff

Trump announced last week that Wiles, one of his two campaign managers, will be his White House chief of staff.

While the specifics of her political views are somewhat unclear, Wiles, 67, is credited with running a successful and efficient campaign. Supporters hope she will instill a sense of order and discipline that was often lacking during Trump’s first four-year term, when he cycled through a number of chiefs of staff.

TOM HOMAN, ‘border czar’

Trump announced on Sunday night that Homan, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump’s first administration, will be in charge of the country’s borders.

Trump made cracking down on people illegally in the country a central element of his campaign, promising mass deportations.

Homan, 62, said on Monday he would prioritize deporting immigrants illegally in the U.S. who posed safety and security threats as well as those working at job sites.

ELISE STEFANIK, UN ambassador

Trump announced on Monday that Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman and staunch Trump supporter, would be his ambassador to the United Nations.

Stefanik, 40, a U.S. representative from New York state and House Republican conference chair, took a leadership position in the House of Representatives in 2021 when she was elected to replace then-Representative Liz Cheney, who was ousted for criticizing Trump’s false claims of election fraud.

Stefanik will arrive at the U.N. after bold promises by Trump to end the Russia-Ukraine war and Israel’s war in Gaza.

LEE ZELDIN, EPA administrator

Trump announced on Monday he had appointed Zeldin, a former congressman from New York state, as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Zeldin, 44, a staunch Trump ally, served in Congress from 2015 to 2023. In 2022, he lost the New York governor’s race to Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul.

Trump has promised to overhaul U.S. energy policy, with the aim of maximizing the country’s already record-high oil and gas production by rolling back regulations and speeding up permitting.

PETE HEGSETH, defense secretary

Trump said on Tuesday he had picked Hegseth as his secretary of defense. Hegseth is a Fox News commentator and veteran who has expressed disdain for the so-called “woke” policies of Pentagon leaders, including its top military officer.

Hegseth, if confirmed by the Senate, could make good on Trump’s campaign promises to rid the U.S. military of generals who he accuses of pursuing progressive policies on diversity in the ranks that conservatives have rallied against.

It could also set up a collision course between Hegseth and the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, who Hegseth accused of “pursuing the radical positions of left-wing politicians.”

MIKE WALTZ, national security adviser

Trump said on Tuesday he had picked Waltz, a Republican U.S. representative, to be national security adviser. Waltz is a retired Army Green Beret who has been a leading critic of China.

Waltz, a 50-year-old Trump loyalist who also served in the National Guard as a colonel, has criticized Chinese activity in the Asia-Pacific and has voiced the need for the U.S. to be ready for a potential conflict in the region.

The national security adviser is a powerful role, which does not require Senate confirmation. Waltz will be responsible for briefing Trump on key national security issues and coordinating with different agencies.

While slamming the Biden administration for a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Waltz has publicly praised Trump’s foreign policy views.

ELON MUSK AND VIVEK RAMASWAMY, heads of Department of Government Efficiency

Trump on Tuesday named tech billionaire Musk and Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, to lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, rewarding two of his well-known supporters from the private sector.

Trump said that Musk and Ramaswamy will reduce government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut waste and restructure federal agencies. Trump said the new department would bring in external expertise and work with the White House and Office of Management and Budget.

KRISTI NOEM, Homeland Security secretary

Noem, the governor of South Dakota, has been picked to serve as the next homeland security secretary, Trump said on Tuesday.

Noem, 52, once seen as a possible running mate for Trump, is currently serving her second four-year term as South Dakota’s governor. She rose to national prominence after refusing to impose a statewide mask mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for everything from border protection and immigration to disaster response and the U.S. Secret Service.

JOHN RATCLIFFE, CIA director

Trump said on Tuesday he had picked Ratcliffe, the former director of national intelligence, to serve as director of the Central Intelligence Agency in his second administration.

A former congressman and prosecutor who served as director of national intelligence during Trump’s last year in office, Ratcliffe, 59, is seen as a hardcore Trump loyalist who could likely win Senate confirmation. Still, during his time as director of national intelligence, Ratcliffe often contradicted the assessments of career civil servants, drawing criticism from Democrats who said he politicized the role.

MARCO RUBIO, secretary of state

On Wednesday, Trump tapped U.S. Senator Marco Rubio to be his secretary of state, putting the Florida-born politician on track to be the first Latino to serve as the United States’ top diplomat.

Rubio, 53, was arguably the most hawkish option on Trump’s shortlist for secretary of state. The senator has in past years advocated for a muscular foreign policy with respect to U.S. geopolitical foes, including China, Iran and Cuba.

Over the last several years he has softened some of his stances to align more closely with Trump’s views. The president-elect accuses past U.S. presidents of leading the U.S. into costly and futile wars and has pushed for a less interventionist foreign policy.

MATT GAETZ, attorney general

Trump said on Wednesday that he had selected Gaetz, a U.S. representative, to be his nominee for attorney general.

“Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System,” Trump said in a statement announcing the selection of the Florida lawmaker.

Trump’s inner circle has described the attorney general as the most important member of the administration after Trump himself, key to his plans to carry out mass deportations, pardon Jan. 6 rioters and seek retribution against those who prosecuted him over the past four years.

TULSI GABBARD, director of national intelligence

Trump on Wednesday named Gabbard, a former Democratic representative and critic of the Biden administration, as his director of national intelligence.

Gabbard left the Democratic Party in 2022 to become an independent and has little direct experience with intelligence work. If confirmed she would become the top official in the U.S. intelligence community after Trump starts his second term in January.

SCOTT BESSENT, potential treasury secretary

Bessent, a key economic adviser to Trump, is widely seen as a top candidate for treasury secretary. A longtime hedge fund investor who taught at Yale University for several years, Bessent has a warm relationship with the president-elect.

While Bessent has long favored the laissez-faire policies that were popular in the pre-Trump Republican Party, he has also spoken highly of Trump’s use of tariffs as a negotiating tool. He has praised the president-elect’s economic philosophy, which rests on a skepticism of both regulations and international trade.

ROBERT LIGHTHIZER, potential trade czar or treasury secretary

A loyalist who served as Trump’s U.S. trade representative for essentially the then-president’s entire term, Lighthizer will almost certainly be invited back.

Though Bessent likely has a better shot at becoming treasury secretary, Lighthizer has an outside chance, and he might be able to reprise his old role if he’s interested.

The Wall Street Journal has reported Trump wanted Lighthizer as his trade czar.

Like Trump, Lighthizer, 77, is a trade skeptic and a firm believer in tariffs. He was one of the leading figures in Trump’s trade war with China and the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, with Mexico and Canada during Trump’s first term.

HOWARD LUTNICK, potential treasury secretary

The co-chair of Trump’s transition effort and the longtime chief executive of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, Lutnick is in the running for treasury secretary.

A bombastic New Yorker like Trump, Lutnick, 63, has uniformly praised the president-elect’s economic policies, including his use of tariffs.

He has at times given elaborate, unvarnished opinions about what policies will be enacted in Trump’s second term. Some Trump allies had privately complained that he too often presented himself as speaking on behalf of the campaign.

LINDA McMAHON, potential commerce secretary

McMahon, a professional wrestling magnate and former Small Business Administration director, is seen as the frontrunner to lead Trump’s Department of Commerce, three sources briefed on the plans said.

McMahon, 76, is a major donor and was an early supporter of the Republican president-elect when he first ran for the White House almost a decade ago. This time, Trump tapped her to co-lead a transition team formed to help vet personnel and draft policy ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

McMahon is the co-founder and former CEO of the professional wrestling franchise WWE. She later served as director of the Small Business Administration, resigning in 2019, and went on to lead a pro-Trump political action committee that supported his 2020 reelection bid.

KASH PATEL, potential candidate for national security posts

A former Republican House staffer who served in various high-ranking staff roles in the defense and intelligence communities during Trump’s first term, Patel frequently appeared on the campaign trail to rally support for the candidate.

Any position requiring Senate confirmation may be a challenge, however.

Patel, 44, has leaned into controversy throughout his career. In an interview with Trump ally Steve Bannon last year, he promised to “come after” politicians and journalists perceived to be enemies of Trump.

During Trump’s first term, Patel, seen as the ultimate Trump loyalist, drew animosity from some more experienced national security officials, who saw him as volatile and too eager to please the then-president.

Sprinkled in with those personnel choices were more conventional selections. Trump said on Wednesday he would nominate Senator Marco Rubio, who is a hardliner on China, as his new secretary of state.

But on the whole, his selections signal a radical shift in the way the U.S. government conducts its business and in the role America will play in the world over the next four years.

Trump has said he wants to end the “weaponization” of the Justice Department, which he said brought politically motivated criminal cases against him to hurt his presidential candidacy. The department says it acts without political bias.

LOYALTY

One common thread for Trump’s picks: He chose unfailingly loyal people who are unlikely to push back against his most controversial orders, analysts said.

Trump pledged on the campaign trail to go after his political enemies, including Democratic President Joe Biden, a pledge that Gaetz, his attorney general-designate, is unlikely to stand in the way of.

“Gaetz will do exactly as Trump says, which is why he was picked I guess,” said a source close to Trump, after Gaetz’s selection as was announced.

A half dozen sources close to Trump world, including donors, consultants and fundraisers, said privately that they were shocked by the choice of Gaetz because of his limited qualifications and past DOJ investigation into him.

“I was shocked that he has been nominated,” Republican senator Susan Collins, a moderate from Maine, told reporters about the Gaetz selection. “The president obviously has the right to nominate whomever he wants. But I think this is an example of why it’s so important that we have the advice and consent provisions in the Constitution.”

Some of Trump’s other nominees also lack any meaningful qualifications. Hegseth, while a decorated combat veteran, is best known in recent years as a media personality. He will now oversee the better part of 3 million employees and the world’s largest fighting force.

“Being secretary of defense is a very serious job, and putting someone as dangerously unqualified as Pete Hegseth into that role is something that should scare all of us,” said Tammy Duckworth, a Democratic senator from Illinois who sits on the armed services committee.

SENATE GUARDRAIL

Not only are Trump’s national security and foreign policy nominees universally skeptical of helping Ukraine fend off Russia’s invasion, some of their statements have been outright hostile toward Kyiv.

Gabbard, who will oversee America’s sprawling foreign and domestic intelligence apparatus, has portrayed Putin as a defender of his own nation’s vital national security interests. Ukraine, she has said, is a corrupt kleptocracy.

One potential guardrail that Trump and his nominees still face: the Senate.

While Trump’s Republicans control the Senate and most Republican lawmakers will support his nominees for top jobs, the slate the president-elect put forward will likely give the party’s remaining moderates pause and test just how loyal elected Republicans are to him and his vision.

The choice of Rubio as secretary of state could come as a relief to U.S. partners worried that the Trump administration could pull back from its global network of alliances, including NATO, given Trump’s “America First” emphasis during his campaign to return to the White House.

“He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said of Rubio in a statement.

In additional to being a China hawk, Rubio, 53, is an outspoken critic of Cuba’s Communist government and strong backer of Israel.

He has in the past advocated for a more assertive U.S. foreign policy with respect to America’s geopolitical foes, although recently his views have aligned more closely with those of Trump’s approach to foreign policy.

Some analysts questioned whether Rubio would stand up to Trump, noting the president-elect’s inclination to make personal loyalty a central requirement for administration posts.

Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, said it is essential for any president’s advisers to stand up to him when necessary, given the wide array of foreign policy challenges Trump will face.

“I’m trying to keep an open mind here,” Miller said, noting that Rubio, because of his experience in Congress, has a better grasp of foreign policy than any of Trump’s other appointees.