New Delhi, Jan. 9 -- Secretary of State Marco Rubio is a football fan - he played in college, supports the Miami Dolphins, and his son is a running back for the University of Florida Gators. Now, he is quarterbacking President Donald Trump's foreign policy team as it navigates particularly turbulent times, notably in Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America, longtime core interests of the child of Cuban immigrants and former Florida senator.

As the Trump administration has alarmed much of the world with its stunning military operation that captured now-former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and its threats to potentially annex Greenland by force, Rubio has emerged as a voice of relative calm.

In public comments and private briefings...