Michael Waltz

Michael George Glen Waltz (born January 31, 1974) is an American politician, businessman, author, and former Army Special Forces officer who is the 29th and current U.S. National Security Advisor. He previously served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 6th congressional district from 2019 to 2025. He is a member of the Republican Party and is the first Army Special Forces soldier to be elected to the United States 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.

In 2018, Waltz won election to the House of Representatives, defeating former ambassador Nancy Soderberg and succeeded Ron DeSantis, who went on to be elected the 46th governor of Florida that same year. He was re-elected in 2020, 2022, and 2024 with over 60% of the vote in each election. Waltz served as 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 that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is in a cold war with the U.S. 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.

On November 12, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced he would appoint Waltz to serve as National Security Advisor in his second administration. He took office on January 20, 2025. Provided by Wikipedia