U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., is keeping the gavel on the U.S. House National Security Subcommittee.
DeSantis, who made a brief bid for the U.S. Senate last year, announced on Friday that he will chair the National Security Subcommittee for another two years. U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, named DeSantis to the post back in December 2014. The National Security Subcommittee oversees the federal Departments of State, Defense and Homeland Security and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
"There are a number of important national security issues on the horizon: radical Islamic terrorism, the threat posed by cyber warfare, the relocation of the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and security at our southern border,” DeSantis said. “With a new administration taking the reins we have a great opportunity to address problems that have plagued our national security policies."
DeSantis will also sit on the U.S. House Foreign Affairs, Oversight and Government Reform and the Judiciary Committees. Under the Foreign Affairs Committee’s umbrella, DeSantis will sit on the U.S. House Middle East and North Africa and the Western Hemisphere Subcommittees. From his perch on the Judiciary Committee, DeSantis will be the vice-chair of the Subcommittee on the Constitution. He’ll also sit on the Government Operations Subcommittee which is under the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
First elected to Congress in 2012, DeSantis has garnered attention as a possible candidate for statewide office in the future. A graduate of Yale and Harvard Law School, DeSantis served as in the Navy JAG Corps. DeSantis waged a brief campaign for the Republican nomination to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., last year. When Rubio decided at the last moment to run for a second term in the Senate, DeSantis dropped out of the race and ran for a third term in the House.
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