32 Facts About Morgan Ortagus

Morgan Deann Ortagus was born on July 10,1982 and is an American diplomat, intelligence analyst, political advisor, former television commentator, and naval officer serving as deputy special presidential envoy to the Middle East since 2025.

Morgan Ortagus worked as a national security contributor at Fox News until her appointment as State Department spokesperson.

Since 2014, Morgan Ortagus has been an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve.

Morgan Ortagus played a key role in the Abraham Accords.

Morgan Ortagus is the founder of POLARIS National Security, co-chair of the Women's Democracy Network at the International Republican Institute, and a member of the board of advisors for the China Center at Hudson Institute.

Morgan Ortagus was a candidate for Tennessee's 5th congressional district in the 2022 election, but was disqualified by the Tennessee Republican Party despite her endorsement by President Donald Trump.

Morgan Ortagus's father owned a cleanup and restoration company, and her mother was the office manager.

Morgan Ortagus volunteered with Students Against Destructive Decisions and Mothers Against Drunk Driving after her mentor was killed by a drunk driver in 1996.

In 2013, Morgan Ortagus graduated from Johns Hopkins University with both a Master of Arts in Government degree and a Master of Business Administration from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.

Morgan Ortagus was a volunteer on the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign.

From 2007 to 2008, Morgan Ortagus was a public affairs officer at United States Agency for International Development, spending several months in Baghdad, Iraq.

Morgan Ortagus attended a Hanukkah ceremony in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces in Baghdad.

In 2008, Morgan Ortagus joined the US Treasury Department, working as an intelligence analyst within the Treasury's Office of Intelligence and Analysis, covering North Africa and the Middle East.

Morgan Ortagus was a deputy Treasury attache at the US Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia starting in 2010.

Morgan Ortagus worked to counter illicit financial flows and was the principal liaison from the Treasury Department to the banking sector in Saudi Arabia.

Morgan Ortagus was on the National Board of Directors of Maverick PAC as National Co-Chair.

In 2014, Morgan Ortagus was commissioned as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve.

Morgan Ortagus returned to government in 2019 as Spokesperson for the US State Department, succeeding Heather Nauert.

Morgan Ortagus served until the end of the Trump administration, going on maternity leave in November 2020.

Post-government, Morgan Ortagus was a Senior Advisor for the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council, but left by March 2022.

Morgan Ortagus is a founding investor of Rubicon Founders, a health-care investment firm based in Nashville, Tennessee, in February 2021.

On February 7,2022, Morgan Ortagus announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination for Tennessee's 5th congressional district.

In July 2020, Morgan Ortagus said that blame rested with both political parties "for almost 40 years for not seeing the Chinese Communist Party for who they really are," and stressed the need for American citizens not to trust Chinese social media and technology companies that seek to access private data of US citizens.

Morgan Ortagus welcomed moves by US social media companies not to allow the Chinese government to access their data.

Morgan Ortagus has condemned the Chinese government's treatment of workers in Xinjiang, China as well as their detention and indoctrination of Uyghur and other religious and ethnic minorities, and called on the CCP to end the use of forced labor.

Morgan Ortagus called on Iran to allow the United States to participate in the investigation after Iran shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 in January 2020.

Morgan Ortagus was present for the September 11,2020, phone call between President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah on which the Abraham Accords was agreed to.

In July 2020, Morgan Ortagus stated that the United States was "troubled by reports of Russian government efforts to manipulate the result of the recent votes on constitutional amendments, including reports of voter coercion, pressure on opponents of the amendments, and restrictions of independent observers of the vote," and that the United States was concerned with an amendment that would potentially allow President Putin to remain in office until 2036.

Morgan Ortagus called legislation that secured 12 weeks of paid parental leave for federal workers a "monumental achievement" that would provide peace of mind to thousands of working families, and cited Ivanka Trump's bipartisan efforts as key to passage of the legislation in the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act.

Morgan Ortagus married Jonathan Weinberger, an attorney, in 2013, and the couple have a daughter, Adina, born in 2020.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Morgan Ortagus's neighbor, presided over their wedding.

Morgan Ortagus converted to Judaism after exploring the religion while living in Baghdad, Iraq.