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National Security Adviser Mike Waltz walks to board Marine One at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on April 3, 2025.
Michael Waltz runs out of time in Washington, headed for UN post
Waltz out of step. Though the former congressman wasn’t the one who shared war plans on the chat – US Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth holds that honor – he ultimately took responsibility. President Donald Trump initially seemed willing to give Waltz a second chance, but it turned out that the national security adviser had created several other Signal chats to discuss foreign policy.
The original Signal faux-pas also raised questions over the exact nature of Waltz’s relationship with The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg. Neither Waltz nor Goldberg would comment on it.
History repeats itself. Trump fired former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn just 22 days into his first term. The president reportedly regretted this decision, so was reluctant to remove Waltz this time, and instead landed on a reshuffle.
Hegseth gets away with it – for now. The former Fox News host seems to have escaped punishment, even though it emerged that he also shared war plans with his wife, brother, and lawyer in a separate Signal chat. A former Pentagon spokesperson also said the Department of Defense has been in “total chaos” under his leadership. Trump has thus far backed Hegseth, although he hedged on whether he had full confidence in him during an ABC News interview that aired on Tuesday.
A full plate for Rubio. The former Florida senator entered the administration as the secretary of state, but he now counts USAID administrator and the acting National Security role in his portfolio. Whether he lasts in this trio of roles for long is another matter — the Miami native has long had presidential ambitions, which he could pursue in 2028.National Security Advisor Mike Waltz looks on as he sits next to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the Oval Office on March 13, 2025.
Will Waltz face the music?
Someone needs to take Michael Waltz’s phone out of his hand. The National Security Advisor’s tech scandal continues, as documents shared with the Washington Post revealed on Tuesday that he was conducting government business on his personal Gmail account, and Politico learned on Wednesday that he created at least 20 Signal group chats to discuss various foreign policy issues. These revelations follow the Signal chat scandal from last week and the discovery of Waltz’s public Venmo account. Penny for your thoughts, Hillary Clinton?
Apples and oranges. Whereas Clinton’s communications emerged following an FOIA request from a right-wing nonprofit, it’s unclear how the former Florida congressman’s emails and information about the other Signal chats got to journalists. One GOP strategist familiar with FOIA requests argued that the way these stories were characterized — the Washington Post said it had “reviewed” the documents — reveals they were leaks.
His last Waltz? The White House isn’t happy with the former Army officer. Though US President Donald Trump spared him after the Houthi chat debacle, Waltz has faced questions about his relationship with Jeffrey Goldberg,the journalist he inadvertently added to the chat.His responses have been awkward, and his position now looks to be under threat. To make matters worse, Trump fired three members of Waltz’s team on Thursday, seemingly leaving Waltz on the brink.
What threatens the USA?
Less than a month ago, the Biden administration finally dropped its long-anticipated National Security Strategy. And it had a few surprises.
Think Russia is the biggest US security threat, given its invasion of Ukraine? Think again, Ian Bremmer tells GZERO World.
The White House sees China as America’s most formidable, long-term threat.
Why? Because it has not only the intent but also the ability to fundamentally alter the world order to one where democracy is no longer the dominant form of government.
And what needs to happen for the US to project strength abroad? For democracy to remain strong at home.
Watch the GZERO World episode: US threat levels from foreign and domestic enemies
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- US threat levels from foreign and domestic enemies ›
- Podcast: America at risk: assessing Russia, China, and domestic ... ›
- US national security depends on domestic progress - GZERO Media ›
- The biggest threats to US national security, foreign and domestic - GZERO Media ›
Netanyahu on the verge of losing power in Israel; US spying on EU?
Ian Bremmer shares his perspective on global politics this week:
Is Netanyahu's time as Israel's prime minister about to end?
It does look that way. Though of course, like with everything in Israel politics it's right down to the wire. Can they put this unity government, where the only thing they're unified on is everyone wants to get rid of Netanyahu, together by midnight Israeli local time. If they can it's the end of Netanyahu's term, 12 years tenure in office. Though the government's not going to last for long. They agree on absolutely nothing else. There's no policy that'll happen, maybe they get a budget together. That's about it. But my God, yes, indeed. It does look like Netanyahu's probably going to be out.
What's the deal with allegations of US spying on European allies?
Well, we've heard a fair amount of this coming out of the Snowden disclosures years ago. Now, further information about the United States government, the NSA in particular, working with the Danish government, a NATO ally, to engage in spying on other European countries, European officials, including Germany. Why the Danish government would agree with this, especially when they refuse to sell Greenland to us? I don't know. But it certainly is causing a lot of mistrust from key Europeans to the United States. When the US is saying, "We want to work with the Europeans on technology because the Chinese are to be mistrusted," the Europeans are mostly saying, "We'd rather hedge and go our own way. We don't know that we can trust anybody else." This does make it a little harder for the Biden administration.
What is next for Mali after a second coup within a year?
Well, they've been suspended from the African Union. That also happened after the first coup in the year but then when the civilian government came in, they reversed the suspension. This time around it might be tougher. It looks harder for civilian government to come back. When you are suspended from the African Union, you're really handling governance really badly. And the reason is Mali is an economically unimportant country, but strategically it does matter because of the fight against Islamist militants, some of which, many of which, are in the north of Mali, in the desert. The ability of other governments, both in the region as well as the French government, to work effectively with Mali if they have a military government that's completely unrepresentative and repressive, is going to be very low. And that means that you're likely to get more space for terrorist engagement opportunities for them to grow in the region as a consequence. Something we don't want to see.