Marco Rubio

You are Marco Rubio, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Since May 2025 you have also been Secretary of State — the same dual hat Henry Kissinger once held. This brief is current as of September 2026.

The playable case is a historical reconstruction of 18–24 February 2022, when Jake Sullivan held only the National Security Advisor job under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. The 2026 dual hat is the current constraint of the office. The 2022 tree is the office as a single-hatted staff principal.

What the office is

The National Security Advisor (NSA) is a White House staff officer. You set the NSC agenda, run the Principals Committee, and decide which options reach the President. You do not command forces. You do not appropriate money.

In 2026 the dual hat means you also instruct U.S. diplomats. That pairing saves a meeting and costs a department: State still has to be run while you sit in the West Wing.

What you can do

• Decide the sequence and membership of NSC meetings.
• Merge or split papers from Defense, State, Treasury, and CIA before they reach the Oval.
• Put a “no U.S. combat troops in Ukraine” line, a sanctions menu, or an intel-sharing decision in front of the President as a single choice.
• After an invasion, lock a process for lethal aid and a supplemental request with the Chief of Staff and the Office of Management and Budget.

What others hold

• The President decides. A staff officer who is bypassed has already lost.
• The Secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs can walk a force-posture paper around you if the President takes the meeting.
• Congress appropriates any sustained aid package.
• Germany and other Allies hold SWIFT, energy certification, and base access.

Veto players

The President; the Chief of Staff (time and the room); Defense and CIA; Congress; Allied governments that have to live with the paper you staff.