Michael George Glen Waltz (born January 31, 1974) is an American politician, diplomat, businessman, author, and former Army Special Forces officer who has served as the 32nd United States ambassador to the United Nations since September 2025 in the second Trump administration. He previously served as the 29th national security advisor from January to May 2025 and was the U.S. representative for Florida's 6th congressional district from 2019 to 2025.
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. and the West.
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 (NSA) 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 the messaging platform Signal. Waltz served as NSA for 101 days, the second shortest tenure for a non-acting officeholder in the position (Mike Flynn, Trump's initial first term NSA, lasted 24 days). The same day, Trump announced via social media that he intended to nominate Waltz to serve as Ambassador to the United Nations (replacing the withdrawn nomination of Elise Stefanik) and that Marco Rubio would take on an acting role as National Security Advisor.
Early life and education (1974–1996) 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. 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.
Military career (1996–2023)
Waltz was commissioned as an armor officer in the U.S. Army in 1996. He served on active duty in the Army from 1996 to 2000, including as an M1A1 Abrams tank platoon leader, and later graduated from Ranger School and graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course. Waltz subsequently served as a Green Beret, deploying multiple times to Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. For his actions in combat, Waltz was decorated with four Bronze Stars, including two for valor.
From 2002 to 2011 and 2016 to 2023, Waltz served in Company B, 2nd Battalion, 20th Special Forces and Special Operations Detachment-NATO in the MD-ARNG. From 2012 to 2015, he served with Special Operations Detachment-Africa in the TX-ARNG.
He was the first Army Special Forces soldier to be elected to Congress. He served in the Bush administration as a defense policy director in the Pentagon and as counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney.
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.
Upon becoming the national security advisor under President Donald Trump, Waltz retired from the Army National Guard at the rank of colonel.
U.S. House of Representatives (2019–2025)
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. He defeated John Ward and Fred Costello in the Republican primary before facing Democratic nominee Nancy Soderberg, a former Alternate US Ambassador to the United Nations and the former deputy national security advisor, in the general election. Waltz won with 56.31% of the vote to Soderberg's 43.69%.
2020
Waltz was challenged by Democratic nominee Clint Curtis. He received 265,393 votes (60.64%) to Curtis's 172,305 (39.36%).
Tenure in Congress
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. On November 6, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he tested positive for the virus.
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 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. Shortly thereafter, the Orlando Sentinel editorial board rescinded its endorsement of Waltz in the 2020 election. They wrote, "We had no idea, had no way of knowing at the time, that Waltz was not committed to democracy." 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.
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.
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.
After multiple major hurricanes impacted Florida's coastal regions over consecutive years, Waltz pressed for streamlining FEMA reimbursements for local governments to speed up debris removal and infrastructure repairs. He co-sponsored the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act and pushed for supplemental disaster funding to support farmers in the citrus and dairy industries.
Agriculture In October 2023, Waltz wrote a letter with 15 other House Republicans to the House Committee on Agriculture opposing the inclusion of the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act in the 2023 farm bill. The EATS Act would have preempted state and local laws regulating agricultural goods sold in interstate commerce, including the California farm animal welfare law Proposition 12. The letter argued that the legislation would infringe on states' rights and undermine U.S. national security by unfairly advantaging the Chinese-owned pork producer WH Group and promoting "Chinese infiltration of American agriculture." In 2024, Waltz received a Congressional Leadership Award from the agricultural policy groups Organization for Competitive Markets and Competitive Markets Action for leading the letter.
China Waltz served on the House China Task Force 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.
In the 116th Congress, Waltz sponsored the American Critical Mineral Exploration and Innovation Act of 2020 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.
Waltz initiated 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". In 2020, he secured legislation that provides a universal requirement for researchers from all agencies to disclose all foreign funding sources in applications for federal funding. Failure results in permanent termination of research and development awards to the professor or school, permanent debarment of malign professors, and criminal charges. 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.
Waltz also sponsored legislation 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 to reverse their decision to expand TSP investments.
Foreign policy
Along with a majority of Democrats, Waltz voted for preliminary versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2021, which would prevent the president from withdrawing soldiers from Afghanistan without congressional approval. He voted with Democrats again to override President Trump's veto in late December 2020.
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. As a result of PAE acquiring Metis, Waltz had personally realized capital gains in the range of $5-25 million, according to disclosure releases.
In 2024, he voted against multiple bills to provide aid to Ukraine.
In January 2023, Waltz introduced a bill to seek authorization to use US military force against Mexican drug cartels.
Waltz co-chaired the House Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans. He and Ro Khanna led a congressional delegation to India in August 2023.
Waltz was critical of the Biden Administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2024.
Draft Waltz voted to include provisions for making women register with the Selective Service in the NDAA of 2022.
Immigration
Waltz voted for the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 1158), 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.
LGBT rights On July 19, 2022, Waltz and 46 other Republican representatives voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified the right to same-sex marriage in federal law.
2024 presidential election
Waltz endorsed Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries.
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.
Committee assignments
For the 118th Congress: Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel Subcommittee on Readiness (Chairman) Subcommittee on Strategic Forces Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability United States House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Subcommittee on Central Intelligence Agency Subcommittee on National Security Agency and Cyber
Caucus memberships
Waltz was a member of the following Congressional caucuses: Congressional Afghan Caucus American Flood Coalition Army Caucus Florida Ports Caucus For Country Caucus (vice chair and co-founder) Kurdish American Caucus