New Delhi: It has been a turbulent few weeks for Michael (Mike) Waltz, the US National Security Adviser, and that has likely impacted his travel plans to India. Waltz was previously expected to travel later this month, but his dates are now unconfirmed, with the possibility of an early May visit.
The American NSA, has been under fire for “Signal-gate”—the controversy surrounding the use of the non-secure messaging platform to carry out classified government work, including sharing war plans with a journalist. Waltz has also been facing the ire of Far-Right activists, such as Laura Loomer, which led to a number of National Security Council officials being fired by US President Donald Trump earlier this month.
Waltz was earlier expected to travel to India from 21 April to 23 April for a number of high-level engagements, including pushing forward the strategic dialogue with his counterpart Ajit Doval, as well as potentially calling on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and meeting with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
As reported by ThePrint last week, Waltz will not be travelling to India this month. A person familiar with the matter suggested that any visit by the US NSA could happen maybe “10 to 20 days later”, but there are no confirmed dates as of yet and it could be further delayed.
If Waltz had travelled to India in April, his visit would have coincided with Vice President J.D. Vance’s personal trip to India. Vance is likely to visit Agra and Jaipur, apart from spending a day in New Delhi between 21 April and 24 April. He is expected to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his trip, which is set to include Second Lady Usha Vance and their children.
Any visit to New Delhi by Waltz would revolve heavily around the India-US Transforming Relationship Utilising Strategic Technology (TRUST) initiative, which builds upon the Initiative for Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), first launched by former president Joe Biden and Modi in May 2022. The initiative was launched in 2023 during a meeting between the two NSAs at the time.
TRUST, which is a similar collaborative framework in the developing fields of technology announced by Modi and Trump in February, is expected to be taken forward at a similar level.
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The Ides of March
Waltz’s challenges began on 13 March, when he created an 18-person group chat on Signal—the open-source encrypted messaging service—which included Vice President Vance, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and a number of national security officials, also adding Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic on it.
The next day (14 March) at 11.44 am, Hegseth shared precise information about a strike on Houthi targets in Yemen, including details about “weapons packages, targets and timing”. The attacks were carried out later that afternoon, following which, Goldberg exited the group chat.
On 24 March, Goldberg published his account of the events in the chat grouping, leading to shock, amusement and anger among Americans, as well as massive embarrassment for President Trump, two months into his second term.
While news reports at the time pointed out that Trump considered firing Waltz, he chose not to, and even took the NSA along with him on Marine One (call sign for any US Marines helicopter carrying the American President) in a sign of solidarity.
Earlier this month, Politico reported that Waltz’s team had created a number of group chats on Signal to coordinate official work across issues, including sensitive topics, such as Ukraine, China, West Asia and Gaza.
Loomer’s crusade against the NSC
The NSA’s issues did not end with ‘Signal-gate’. In the first week of April, six National Security Council (NSC) staffers were fired by Trump, following a meeting between the American President, Loomer—the Far-Right activist—and Waltz.
Loomer vilified staff members by name, while carrying a sheaf of papers, detailing attacks against specific individuals and questioning their loyalty to the US, according to The New York Times.
She has, in the past, claimed that the 11 September, 2001 attacks were an “inside job”, and feuded with tech billionaire Elon Musk following the November election results last year. While the American newspaper reports that Waltz attempted to defend some of the individuals, he had little power to protect their jobs in the NSC.
The people fired included Brian Walsh, the senior director for intelligence and Maggie Dougherty, senior director for international organisations. One of Loomer’s major targets—Alex Wong, the deputy national security adviser—continues in his role.
Days after ‘Signal-gate’ came to light, Loomer floated the theory that Wong was responsible for adding Goldberg to the group chat, because his wife is of “Chinese descent” and worked as a prosecutor during the tenures of President Barack Obama and Biden. Without any evidence, Loomer also attacked Wong, calling him a “Chinese” deputy NSA.
🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨
‼️Alex Wong, the Chinese Deputy National Security Advisor appointed by President Trump, who is at the center of the Signalgate scandal, is married to U.S. Attorney Candice Chiu Wong, a Chinese Woman who was one of the key attorneys involved in PROSECUTING J6ers.‼️… pic.twitter.com/j5OFnuZmaq
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) March 26, 2025
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)