Former national security adviser Mike Waltz faced the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday for his confirmation hearing to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Opening the session, the Florida Republican promised to return the world body to its “first principles,” saying he would “make the U.N. great again” by challenging China’s influence and pushing back on what he called the organisation’s anti-Israel bias. Much of the questioning centred on “Signalgate,” the March incident in which Waltz inadvertently added Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to an encrypted Signal chat that discussed timing and targets for a U.S. strike on Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Waltz insisted, “There was no classified information on that chat,” noting that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recommends end-to-end encryption. Democrats, led by Sen. Chris Coons, pressed him for contrition, with Coons saying the leak involved “demonstrably sensitive information.” Waltz confirmed the Pentagon continues to investigate the episode. Beyond the controversy, Waltz outlined an agenda that includes reviewing every U.S. dollar sent to the U.N., dismantling the Palestinian aid agency UNRWA, and vetoing what he described as a disproportionate number of anti-Israel resolutions—citing General Assembly tallies of 154 measures against Israel versus 71 against all other nations from 2015 to 2023. With Republicans holding a 53–47 majority, committee Republicans largely praised his record, and Senate leaders signalled that confirmation remains likely despite Democratic objections.