Mike Gallagher

Mike Gallagher was first elected in 2016 to represent Wisconsin’s 8th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served until April 2024, after which he joined the defense contractor Palantir as head of defense. In Congress, he served as the chairman of the House Select Committee on Competition with the Chinese Communist Party, led a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan and met with President Tsai Ing-wen and President-elect Lai Ching-te. Gallagher joined the United States Marine Corps the day he graduated from college and served for seven years on active duty as a counterintelligence/human intelligence officer and regional affairs officer for the Middle East/North Africa, eventually earning the rank of captain. He deployed twice to Al Anbar Province, Iraq, as a commander of intelligence teams. He also served on General Petraeus’ Central Command Assessment Team in the Middle East and worked for three years in the intelligence community, including tours at the National Counterterrorism Center and the Drug Enforcement Agency. Gallagher also served as the lead Republican staffer for the Middle East, North Africa and Counterterrorism on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Prior to taking office, Gallagher worked in the private sector at a global energy and supply chain management company in Green Bay, Wisconsin. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, Gallagher went on to earn a master’s degree in security studies from Georgetown University, a second master’s degree in strategic intelligence from National Intelligence University and his Ph.D. in international relations from Georgetown.