President-elect Donald Trump this week announced his selection of U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida to be national security advisor.
The Cabinet-level post serves in the West Wing of the White House, advising the president on all national security issues. National security advisors have sometimes played crucial roles in world affairs.
Some of the more familiar national security advisors include Henry Kissinger under Richard Nixon, Colin Powell under Ronald Reagan and Condoleezza Rice under George W. Bush. Jake Sullivan is the current national security advisor.
What qualifies Michael Waltz to be national security advisor?
Waltz, a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Army and National Guard, has served in Congress for just shy of six years. He won a fourth term in Florida’s 6th District − covering Daytona Beach north to St. Augustine and west to Ocala − on Nov. 5. He has served as chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, in addition to the House Intelligence Committee and House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
Prior to his election, Waltz served as defense policy director in the Pentagon under Secretaries of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates in the Bush Administration. He also worked in the White House as counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney. He also became familiar to viewers of Fox News as a contributor discussing foreign policy and national security.
Why did Trump select Waltz to be national security advisor?
Here’s what Trump had to say in a statement emailed to reporters: “Mike has been a strong champion of my America First foreign policy agenda and will be a tremendous champion of our pursuit of peace through strength!”
Where did Waltz grow up and go to college?
Waltz was born in Boynton Beach on Jan. 31, 1974, and grew up in Jacksonville to a single mother, Brenda Waltz. Waltz graduated from Stanton College Preparatory School in 1992 and then the Virginia Military Institute in 1996 with honors, according to his congressional biography.
Where did Waltz serve in the Army?
He was commissioned into the Army as a lieutenant after VMI. Waltz graduated from Ranger School and was selected to be a Green Beret, part of the Army Special Forces. He was deployed numerous times in the Middle East, Africa and Afghanistan, where he led the effort to locate Bowe Bergdahl, a soldier who was captured after leaving his post. Waltz was awarded four Bronze Stars, including two with Valor.
Has Waltz written a book?
He’s written three, actually. “Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret’s Battles from Washington to Afghanistan,” came out in 2014. He authored a children’s book, “Dawn of the Brave,” in 2022, and this year “Hard Truths: Lead and Think Like a Green Beret” was published. Waltz also started a defense and intelligence contracting firm, Metis Solutions, which was sold in 2020, netting Waltz between $5 and $25 million, according to his U.S. House financial disclosure.
Congressman Michael Waltz attends to his son Armie with his wife Julia Nesheiwat during a Republican watch party on Aug. 23, 2022.
Who is Michael Waltz’s wife?
In August 2021, Waltz married Julia Nesheiwat, who served as Homeland Security advisor for 11 months during Trump’s first term. She worked in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the State Department in the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations. Prior to that, Nesheiwat served eight years in the Army as a military intelligence officer in both Afghanistan and Iraq, earning a Bronze Star medal and leaving in 2005 as a captain. She’s also a Stetson University graduate who went on to earn a Ph.D. from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Waltz and Nesheiwat have a soon-to-be 3-year-old son named Armand (who they call Armie). Waltz also has a daughter, Anderson, by a previous marriage.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Michael Waltz, one of Trump’s picks, was a Green Beret and congressman
