Michael Waltz has been removed from his position as President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, marking a significant shakeup in the administration’s foreign policy team. Appointed in January 2025, Waltz’s tenure lasted just over three months, making him one of the shortest-serving national security advisors in American history.

Waltz pictured with his wife, Julia Nesheiwat, at the White House Easter Egg roll event on April 21. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)

The catalyst for Waltz’s ouster was a controversy involving the encrypted messaging app Signal. In March, it was revealed that Waltz had somehow added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, the Head Editor for The Atlantic newspaper, to a private Signal group chat discussing a sensitive U.S. military operation in Yemen. The chat included top officials such as Vice President J.D Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Mr. Waltz himself, and several other prominent officials. The US Department of Defense, led by SECDEF Pete Hegseth, has been pursuing a bombing campaign against the Houthi rebel movement in Western Yemen since the start of the second Trump presidency. This campaign is in response to a Houthi-led terror campaign against International shipping in the Red Sea, one of the world’s most important shipping routes. 

Waltz is now slated to be the President’s US Ambassador to the United Nations nominee, which Trump has said is a “promotion” for Waltz. However, many critics have pointed out that this is more so a removal from the White House, and that Waltz may have been used as an easy public scapegoat for Trump to avoid removing Hegseth from his role at the Pentagon.