Mike Waltz
American politician (born 1974) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michael George Glen Waltz (born January 31, 1974) is an American politician, businessman, author, and former Army Special Forces officer who served as the national security advisor to President Donald Trump from January to May 2025.[1] A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. representative for Florida's 6th congressional district from 2019 to 2025. He was the first Army Special Forces soldier to be elected to Congress. Waltz received four Bronze Stars while serving in the Special Forces during multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa. He served in the Bush administration as a defense policy director in the Pentagon and as counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Mike Waltz | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Waltz in 2025 | |
| 29th United States National Security Advisor | |
| In office January 20, 2025 – May 1, 2025 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Deputy | Alex Wong |
| Preceded by | Jake Sullivan |
| Succeeded by | Marco Rubio (acting) |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 6th district | |
| In office January 3, 2019 – January 20, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Ron DeSantis |
| Succeeded by | Randy Fine |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Michael George Glen Waltz January 31, 1974 Boynton Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Virginia Military Institute (BA) |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service |
|
| Rank | Colonel |
| Unit | U.S. Army Special Forces |
| Battles/wars | War in Afghanistan |
| Awards | Bronze Star (4) |
In 2018, Waltz was elected to the House of Representatives, defeating former ambassador Nancy Soderberg and succeeding Ron DeSantis, who was elected governor of Florida that same year. Waltz was re-elected in 2020, 2022, and 2024 with over 60% of the vote in each election. He was chair of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness for the 118th United States Congress. Waltz was considered one of Congress's most hawkish members with regard to China, believing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is in a cold war with the U.S.
In 2021, Waltz was the first member of Congress to call for a full U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing over what he described as the CCP's genocide and internment of Chinese Uyghur populations and the enslavement, forced labor, and internment camps of ethnic minorities in China. On November 12, 2024, President-elect Trump announced he would appoint Waltz to serve as national security advisor in his second administration. Waltz resigned his House seat prior to taking office on January 20, 2025.
On May 1, 2025, it was reported that Waltz, along with Deputy National Security Advisor Alex Wong, would leave their posts following group chat leaks on messaging platform Signal.[2] The same day, Trump announced via social media that he intended to nominate Waltz to serve as U.S. ambassador to the UN.[3]
Early life and education
Waltz was born on January 31, 1974 to a single mother in Boynton Beach, Florida, and grew up in Jacksonville, where he graduated from Stanton College Preparatory School.[4][5] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in international studies from the Virginia Military Institute in 1996, graduating with honors as a Distinguished Military Graduate.[6]
Military career
Waltz was commissioned as an armor officer in the U.S. Army in 1996.[7][8] He later graduated from Ranger School and graduated the Special Forces Qualification Course in 2000, then serving two years as an active duty Special Forces officer with multiple tours in the Middle East and Africa. For his actions in combat, Waltz was decorated with four Bronze Stars, including two for valor.[9]
From 2002 to 2011 and 2016 to 2025, Waltz served in Company B, 2nd Battalion, 20th Special Forces, MD-ARNG. From 2012 to 2015, he served in 5th Battalion, 19th Special Forces, TX-ARNG.[10]
Waltz worked in the Pentagon as a defense policy director for secretaries of defense Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates. He went on to serve in the White House as the vice president's counterterrorism advisor.[10] Waltz wrote Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret's Battles from Washington to Afghanistan.[11]
In 2010, Waltz helped found the analytics and training company Metis Solutions. It was bought in November 2020 by Pacific Architects and Engineers for $92 million.[12]
Upon becoming the national security advisor under President Donald Trump, Waltz retired from the Army reserve at the rank of colonel.
U.S. House of Representatives
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Perspective
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Elections
2018
Waltz ran for Florida's 6th congressional district in 2018 to succeed incumbent Republican Ron DeSantis, who retired before being elected governor of Florida.[13] He defeated John Ward and Fred Costello in the Republican primary[14] before facing Democratic nominee Nancy Soderberg, a former representative at the United Nations and the former deputy national security advisor, in the general election.[15] Waltz won with 56.31% of the vote to Soderberg's 43.69%.[16]
2020
Waltz was challenged by Democratic nominee Clint Curtis. He received 265,393 votes (60.64%) to Curtis's 172,305 (39.36%).[17]
Tenure
Waltz was sworn in to the 116th United States Congress on January 3, 2019.
In April 2020, Waltz joined the National Guard's COVID-19 response efforts as a colonel on the planning staff.[18] On November 6, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he tested positive for the virus.[19]
In December 2020, Waltz was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated[20] incumbent Donald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.[21][22][23] Shortly thereafter, the Orlando Sentinel editorial board rescinded its endorsement of Waltz in the 2020 election.[24] It wrote, "We had no idea, had no way of knowing at the time, that Waltz was not committed to democracy."[24][25] Ultimately, Waltz voted to confirm the electoral victory of Joe Biden.
Along with all other Senate and House Republicans, Waltz voted against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.[26]
On May 19, 2021, Waltz voted against legislation to establish the formation of a January 6 commission meant to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol.[27]
On July 29, 2024, Waltz was announced as one of seven Republican members of a bipartisan task force investigating the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.[28]
China
Waltz served on the House China Task Force[29] with 15 Republican lawmakers representing 14 committees of jurisdiction to coordinate policy on China. The Task Force collaborated and released the China Task Force report. The CTF issued a final report that includes 82 key findings and more than 400 forward-leaning recommendations for addressing the China threat.[30]
In the 116th Congress, Waltz sponsored the American Critical Mineral Exploration and Innovation Act of 2020[31] to reduce America's dependence on foreign sources of critical minerals and bring the U.S. supply chain from China back to America by establishing a critical mineral research and development program in the Department of Energy. The bill was signed into law in Section 7002 of Division Z in the FY21 appropriations bill.[32]
Waltz has also pioneered legislation to secure American universities and academies from Chinese espionage, saying that although not all Chinese students in the United States are "spies or bad people", they "have no choice but to provide the Chinese government with whatever information that government demands".[33] In 2020, he secured legislation that provides a universal requirement for all agencies for researchers to disclose all foreign funding sources in applications for federal funding. Failure would result in permanent termination of research and development awards to the professor or school, permanent debarment of malign professors, and criminal charges.[34] Further, Waltz directed the Department of Defense to track foreign talent recruitment programs that pose a threat to the United States, particularly as a response to Chinese Communist Party efforts to infiltrate American universities.[34]
Waltz also sponsored legislation[35] to ensure the federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) does not invest in Chinese or Russian markets. Weeks later, President Trump directed the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board[36] to reverse their decision to expand TSP investments.
Foreign policy
In 2020, Waltz voted for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2021, which would prevent the president from withdrawing soldiers from Afghanistan without congressional approval.[37]
Shortly after Waltz's 2021 op-ed, The Intercept reported on his role in founding and managing a defense contracting company called Metis Solutions, which had landed contracts worth an accumulated $930 million in Afghanistan from the US government, largely in the area of training Afghan security forces. As a result of PAE acquiring Metis in 2020, Waltz had personally realized capital gains in the range of $5-25 million, according to disclosure releases.[38]
In 2024, he voted against multiple Ukraine bills to aid Ukraine.[39][40]
In January 2023, Waltz and Representative Dan Crenshaw introduced a bill to seek authorization to use US military force to "put us at war with the cartels" in Mexico.[41]
Draft
Waltz voted to include provisions for drafting women in the NDAA of 2022.[42]
Immigration
Waltz voted for the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 1158),[43] which effectively prohibits Immigration and Customs Enforcement from cooperating with the Department of Health and Human Services to detain or remove illegal alien sponsors of Unaccompanied Alien Children.[citation needed]
LGBT rights
On July 19, 2022, Waltz and 46 other Republican representatives voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify the right to same-sex marriage in federal law.[44]
2024 presidential election
Waltz endorsed Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries.[45]
Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023
Waltz was among the 71 Republicans who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 in the House.[46]
Veterans
The PACT ACT which expanded VA benefits to veterans exposed to toxic chemicals during their military service, received a "nay" from Waltz.[47] Regarding medical cannabis, despite lobbying from VSOs such as the DAV,[48] Waltz also voted against the 2022 MORE Act.[49]
Committee assignments
For the 118th Congress:[50]
Caucus memberships
Waltz was a member of the following Congressional caucuses:[51][52]
- Congressional Afghan Caucus
- American Flood Coalition[citation needed]
- Army Caucus[53]
- Florida Ports Caucus[54]
- For Country Caucus (vice chair and co-founder)[55][56][57]
- Kurdish American Caucus[58]
- Congressional Automotive Performance and Motorsports Caucus[59]
- Republican Study Committee[60]
- House Special Operations Forces (SOF) Caucus (co-chair)[61]
- Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus[62]
- Congressional Singapore Caucus[63]
- Congressional Taiwan Caucus[64]
- Republican Main Street Partnership[65]
- Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Caucus[66]
- Congressional Blockchain Caucus[67]
National Security Advisor
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Tenure
On November 12, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would appoint Waltz to serve as his national security advisor.[68]
On January 20, 2025, Waltz tendered his resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives in order to take up his appointment with the Trump administration.[69] He would assume office the same day.[70] Shortly after becoming National Security Advisor, Waltz would reverse his previous stance supporting a ban on TikTok in the United States.[71]
On January 28, 2025, Waltz held a meeting attended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to "discuss implementing President Trump's vision of securing the nation and prioritizing American interests on both domestic and international fronts."[72][73]
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On February 18, 2025, American and Russian delegations, headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, respectively, met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in order to develop a framework for further peace negotiations on the war in Ukraine. Rubio was accompanied by Michael Waltz and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.[74]
In March 2025, Waltz confirmed on CNN's State of the Union that the United States would continue offensive cyber operations against Russia.[75]
In March 2025, Waltz announced a visit to Greenland, which was criticized by Greenlandic leaders as an aggressive move amid ongoing tensions over U.S. interests in the territory.[76] The Greenland government has accused the United States of foreign interference in its affairs.[77]
Signal app group chat leak
Screenshots from the leaked chat showing "Michael Waltz" discussing the March 2025 United States attacks in Yemen.
In March 2025, Waltz inadvertently added The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal group chat discussing the upcoming US strikes in Yemen targeting Houthi militia before they were publicly known.[78] Signal is a commercial non-government messaging application.[78] In the Signal chat, Waltz appears to initially add a setting that causes the chat messages to be deleted after one week, but later Waltz changes the setting to let the message deletions occur after four weeks.[78] After the strikes occurred, Waltz provided a real-time update to the Signal chat, announcing that the strikes' "first target", which was the Houthi's "top missile guy – we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend's building and it's now collapsed".[78][79]
After The Atlantic reported about the Signal chat, the incident sparked national security concerns as Pentagon regulations specifically prohibit the use of Signal and similar messaging apps for sharing classified information.[80][81] Due to the automatic message deletion setting, there were also concerns on whether the conversations were kept on official record as mandated by the Presidential Records Act.[78] Waltz responded to the reporting by saying that Goldberg "really is the bottom scum of journalists … I don't text him. He wasn't on my phone", but Goldberg "somehow gets on somebody's contact and then get sucked into this group"; Waltz also said of Goldberg: "I didn't see this loser in the group. It looked like someone else", raising the possibility that Goldberg "did it deliberately".[82] Waltz told the media that "I take full responsibility. I built the group", then said: "We made a mistake. We're moving forward".[83]
After the Signal leak, Der Spiegel searched the Internet using a commercial information provider, a commercial people search engine, and leaked databases, which revealed Waltz's personal mobile number, personal email address and its passwords, and Waltz's personal profiles for Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Signal.[84]
In late March 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported that according to American officials, Waltz had started and hosted multiple other Signal group chats containing Cabinet members to discuss sensitive issues related to national security, including on military operations and on ceasing hostilities between Ukraine and Russia.[85] In April, The Washington Post reported that officials had stated that Waltz received government communications on his personal Gmail account, including his schedule and work documents, and that Waltz would then transfer data from his schedule to Signal.[86] Both The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post quoted their sources as indicating that Trump did not want to fire Waltz because it would make a left-leaning media outlet (The Atlantic) look good, and that Waltz would have been fired if it was a right-leaning media outlet that exposed him.[85][86]
Politico followed with an April 2025 report that reported that Waltz's national security team had created at least 20 Signal group chats discussing official (and sometimes sensitive) national security issues, on topics such as such as Ukraine, China, Gaza, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.[87] Politico wrote that its sources were four people who had been added to such Signal chats, one of whom said: "Waltz built the entire NSC communications process on Signal", while another said that Waltz and his national security team had continued to use Signal ever since the transition period before Trump's second presidency began.[87]
On May 1, 2025, it was reported that Mike Waltz and his deputy, Alex Nelson Wong, would leave their respective posts. Waltz was announced as the nominee for United States Ambassador to the United Nations on the same day. [88]
Political positions
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War in Afghanistan
In a 2017 interview with The National Interest, Waltz described his views on Afghanistan as primarily oriented around ideological objectives, rather than material objectives. He assessed that Afghanistan could be won through slow cultural conversion by unconventional forces, described as "multiple generations of winning hearts and minds", and anticipated 100 years before such objectives could be achieved, saying:
We are in a war of ideas and we are fighting an ideology. It is easy to bomb a tank, but incredibly difficult to bomb an idea. We need a long-term strategy that discredits the ideology of Islamic extremism ... We are in a multi-decade war and we are only 15-years in.[89]
After telling an anecdote to the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference audience about his time serving in Afghanistan during the public announcement of the Obama-era troop withdrawals, Waltz said of the war in Afghanistan, "So, are we 15 years in? Yes. Are we in for a lot more fighting, and do we need a long-term strategy to undermine the ideology of Islamic extremism—just like we did fascism and just like we did communism? Yes, we do. Uh, and you know, I think we're in for a long haul, and I think our nation's leadership needs to begin telling the American people, 'I'm sorry, we don't have a choice; we're 15 years into what is going to be a multi-generational war because we're talking about defeating an idea.' It's easy to bomb a tank; very difficult to defeat an idea, and that's exactly what we have to do."[90]
In August 2021, during the final stages of the second US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Waltz called on President Biden to reverse course on the war in Afghanistan, urging for the redeployment of special forces on the ground and the use of aerial bombardment of Taliban positions by the Air Force. In an op-ed for Fox News, he predicted that a return to Afghanistan was inevitable, and viewed withdrawal as a temporary act that would "decimate" local allies and civilians, saying "thousands will die".[91]
Canada
In 2024, Waltz published a video on X expressing support for Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, who he said was going to send Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau "packing in 2025 (finally) and start digging Canada out of the progressive mess it's in". He has frequently criticized Trudeau for not being sufficiently tough on China, criticizing Trudeau for abstaining on a Parliament vote on declaring the persecution of Uyghurs in China as a genocide, allowing the sale of a lithium mine to a Chinese-state owned entity and the pledging of Chinese donors to donate $1 million to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, and warned about Chinese government interference in Canadian elections.[92] When asked by Kristen Welker if Donald Trump is serious about annexing Canada, Waltz deflected: "I think the Canadian people would—many of them would—love to join the United States with no tariffs, with lower taxes."[93]
China
Waltz is considered one of Congress's most hawkish members with regard to China, saying, "We are in a Cold War with the Chinese Communist Party."[94] In 2021, he was the first member of Congress to call for a full U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing over what he described as the CCP's genocide and internment of Chinese Uyghur populations and the enslavement, forced labor, and internment camps of ethnic minorities in China,[95][96] likening the 2022 Olympics to the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Nazi Germany.[97] In 2024, he called China an "existential threat to the US with the most rapid military build-up since the 1930s", and supported significant investments in the US Navy.[98] In a 2024 The Economist op-ed written together with Matthew Kroenig, Waltz argued for winding down conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine to free up military assets needed to confront China.[99]
Russia and Ukraine
While initially backing Ukraine following the launch of the Russian invasion in February 2022, he indicated that his views have evolved to a less supportive position in 2024.[39] In 2024, he suggested that Trump could threaten to damage the Russian economy by lowering the price of oil and gas, using it as a leverage.[98] In an op-ed to The Economist, Waltz said giving military aid to Ukraine indefinitely is a "recipe for failure", but that the US can "provide more weapons to Ukraine with fewer restrictions" if Russian president Vladimir Putin refuses to engage in peace talks.[99] He repeatedly criticized the Biden administration's strategy in Ukraine as unclear and confusing, and expressed support for a negotiated settlement of the conflict.[100]
Electoral history
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Michael Waltz | 32,833 | 42.4 | |
| Republican | John Ward | 23,543 | 30.4 | |
| Republican | Fred Costello | 21,023 | 27.2 | |
| Total votes | 77,399 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Michael Waltz | 187,891 | 56.3 | |
| Democratic | Nancy Soderberg | 145,758 | 43.7 | |
| Total votes | 333,649 | 100.0 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Michael Waltz (incumbent) | 265,393 | 60.6 | |
| Democratic | Clint Curtis | 172,305 | 39.4 | |
| n/a | Write-ins | 158 | <0.1 | |
| Total votes | 437,856 | 100.0 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Michael Waltz (incumbent) | 226,548 | 75.3 | |
| Libertarian | Joe Hannoush | 74,207 | 24.7 | |
| Total votes | 300,755 | 100.0 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Michael Waltz (incumbent) | 65,234 | 82.0 | |
| Republican | John Grow | 14,280 | 19.0 | |
| Total votes | 79,514 | 100.00 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Michael Waltz (incumbent) | 284,414 | 66.5 | |
| Democratic | James Stockton | 143,050 | 33.5 | |
| Total votes | 427,464 | 100.00 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
Personal life
Waltz has a teenage daughter (not from Nesheiwat). He is married to Julia Nesheiwat,[107] an Army veteran who served in the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations, most recently as Trump's homeland security advisor. Waltz and Nesheiwat have a son together.[108] They live in St. Johns County, Florida.
Books
In 2014, his book Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret's Battles from Washington to Afghanistan was published.[109] In 2022, he wrote the book Dawn of the Brave, a colorful, animal-filled Christian children's book about service.[110] In 2024, his book Hard Truths: Think and Lead Like a Green Beret was published.[1]
Awards and decorations
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Waltz's awards and decorations include:
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| Combat Infantryman Badge | |||||||||||
| Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V" device and three bronze oak leaf clusters |
Meritorious Service Medal | ||||||||||
| Army Commendation Medal with two bronze oak leaf clusters |
Army Achievement Medal | Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal | |||||||||
| National Defense Service Medal | Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal | Afghanistan Campaign Medal with two bronze service stars | |||||||||
| Global War on Terrorism Service Medal | Armed Forces Reserve Medal with "M" device for mobilization and "3" Numeral Device indicating three mobilizations |
Army Service Medal | |||||||||
| Army Overseas Service Ribbon with bronze service star |
Army Reserve Overseas Training Ribbon | NATO Medal | |||||||||
References
External links
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