President-elect Trump is expected to announce Eric Trager as Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa on the National Security Council, a congressional aide told The Hill. Trager has served as a professional staff member for Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee since 2018.

Eric Trager would replace Brett McGurk, who has played a central role in the Biden administration's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

Trager, a Senate Armed Services Committee staffer and former Washington Institute fellow, has focused his research on Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood

The National Security Council is the government body formed to advise the President "on matters of national defense and shall make recommendations on such other subjects as the President may from time to time submit for study and consideration.