President-elect Donald Trump recently announced his pick to be his deputy national security advisor, KT McFarland, a little-known figure in most political circles. But a decade before the president-elect picked her for the important post, McFarland campaigned unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in a bid to face off against none other than Hillary Clinton. NY1 Political Reporter Josh Robin has more.

Her name's Kathleen Troia McFarland.

Soon, the woman called KT will advise President Trump on the world's most pressing dangers.

She calls herself ready, like when she aimed for elected office herself.

"There's a war on terror, and if somebody with my background, having served closely with three American presidents, if I could bring something to the debate, I think it's important to do so," McFarland said in a televised political debate in 2006.

The Republican primary was against Yonkers Mayor John Spencer and the two were sparring for the prize of facing off against incumbent Senator Hillary Clinton.

McFarland ran on security experience — though was found overstating her credentials, saying she came up with a famous line in a speech by President Reagan.

She also wasn't above the mud.

Spencer's love affair with his secretary had her campaign charging bigamy.

"John, the problem with you is you are like the Clintons," McFarland said. "You're the one who is — you tax and spend like Hillary. And you behave like Bill."

Spencer won handily — then handily lost to Clinton.

McFarland became a Fox News contributor, with opinions varying in controversy.

She's argued for a muscular, but restrained military — but also suggested Russian leader Vladimir Putin deserves a Nobel peace prize for his work in Syria.

She endorsed Trump for his potential to clean out Washington corruption.

"I may look like a suburban housewife, but I'm actually a revolutionary," McFarland said.

"She's a foreign policy wonk," said Republican consultant Bill O'Reilly "She lives and breathes this stuff — national security foreign policy."

O'Reilly helped run McFarland's 2006 campaign — but publicly opposed Trump.

"So yes, I feel better about the whole thing with people like her around the President," the consultant said.

But McFarland reports to Trump's national security advisor. And Mike Flynn has many critics noting the falsehoods he's posted and once calling Islam a cancer.

"I think he realizes that this job is different," said Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution. "That he's going to have to handle himself somewhat differently, but she needs to be maybe a little bit of a rock as well. She needs to be a steadying influence — a second set of eyes and ears."

McFarland says she isn't doing interviews, writing in an email she's waiting until after the inauguration.