Waltz created the group chat on the Signal messaging app to which a journalist from The Atlantic was inadvertently added where officials shared plans about imminent military strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
ADVERTISEMENT
President Donald Trump has said he is nominating former national security adviser Mike Waltz as the next US Ambassador to the United Nations.
"From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first," Trump wrote.
The announcement comes after several US media outlets reported that Waltz was set to depart the administration, in the first major staff shakeup of Trump's second term.
Waltz came under searing scrutiny in March after it emerged he had a created a chat group on the Signal messaging app and inadvertently added The Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg.
The chat group was used to discuss planning for a sensitive 15 March military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen.
The Signal chain also showed Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth providing the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop.
Waltz had previously taken "full responsibility" for building the message chain and administration officials described the episode as a “mistake” but one that caused Americans no harm.
Waltz maintained that he was not sure how Goldberg ended up in the messaging chain, and insisted he did not know the journalist.
Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, was also tipped to depart, according to the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel move not yet made public.
The National Security Council has not responded to a request for comment.
Waltz, who served in the House representing Florida for three terms before his elevation to the White House, is the most prominent senior administration official to depart since Trump returned to the White House.