Mike Gallagher represented Wisconsin’s 8th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2017 to 2024. He served on the House Armed Services Committee, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and chaired the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.
Gallagher participated in the May 2022 UAP hearing and sponsored legislation to create secure channels for reporting unidentified aerial phenomena while protecting government employees and contractors from reprisal. His actions focused on national security implications of UAP encounters with military assets.
- Born March 3, 1984, in Green Bay, Wisconsin; Princeton University BA 2006; Georgetown University MA and PhD in international relations.
- Seven years active duty U.S. Marine Corps as counterintelligence/human intelligence officer; deployed twice to Iraq; reached rank of captain.
- Elected to Congress in 2016; resigned April 2024.
- May 2022 House Intelligence Committee hearing: pressed officials on Malmstrom AFB incident and Wilson-Davis memo.
- July 2022: NDAA amendment for UAP reporting system and whistleblower protections passed the House.
- United StatesBorn and raised in Wisconsin
- U.S. Marine CorpsCaptain, 7 years active duty
- United States House of RepresentativesRepresentative (R-WI-8), 2017–2024
- House Permanent Select Committee on IntelligenceMember during 2022 UAP hearing
- Palantir TechnologiesHead of Defense, 2024–present
- Hudson InstituteDistinguished Fellow, 2024–present
Background
Michael John Gallagher was born on March 3, 1984, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and raised there as a seventh-generation Wisconsinite. He graduated valedictorian from Green Bay’s Notre Dame Academy in 2002. Gallagher earned a B.A. from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 2006.
The day after college graduation, Gallagher commissioned into the U.S. Marine Corps. He served seven years on active duty as a counterintelligence and human intelligence officer and regional affairs officer for the Middle East and North Africa. He deployed twice to Al Anbar Province, Iraq, and worked on General Petraeus’ Central Command Assessment Team. Gallagher reached the rank of captain and earned the Joint Service Commendation Medal and Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal.
After leaving active duty around 2013, Gallagher worked for three years in the U.S. intelligence community, including tours at the National Counterterrorism Center and the Drug Enforcement Agency. He then served as the lead Republican staffer for Middle East, North Africa, and counterterrorism issues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In 2015 Gallagher became national security advisor to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s presidential campaign. After Walker’s campaign ended, he worked as a senior marketing strategist at Breakthrough Fuel, a supply-chain management company in Green Bay. Gallagher won election to the U.S. House in 2016 and took office in January 2017.
During his House tenure Gallagher served on the Armed Services Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He co-chaired the Cyberspace Solarium Commission from 2019 to 2021. In the 118th Congress he chaired the Select Committee on Strategic Competition with the Chinese Communist Party and the Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation.
Gallagher’s UAP work began with national security concerns over objects interfering with military training ranges and nuclear sites. On May 17, 2022, during the first open congressional UAP hearing in more than 50 years, he questioned Pentagon and intelligence officials about the 1967 Malmstrom Air Force Base incident in which ten ICBMs reportedly went offline while a glowing red orb was observed overhead. He also asked about the Wilson-Davis memo and entered that document into the congressional record.
In July 2022 Gallagher co-sponsored a bipartisan amendment to the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. The measure required a dedicated internal reporting system for UAP incidents and provided protections against reprisal for current and former officials bound by nondisclosure agreements. The House passed the amendment.
Gallagher continued oversight efforts in subsequent years, including interviews discussing AARO’s handling of range incidents and the need for better data cataloging. He resigned from Congress in April 2024 after four terms.
Gallagher holds a master’s degree in security studies and a Ph.D. in international relations from Georgetown University, plus a master’s in strategic intelligence from National Intelligence University. He received the Navy’s Distinguished Public Service Award, the Panetta Institute’s Jefferson-Lincoln Award, and the Eisenhower Award from the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.
Where They Are Now
As of October 2026 Mike Gallagher serves as head of defense at Palantir Technologies and as a distinguished fellow at the Hudson Institute. He lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with his wife Anne and their two daughters.
Last updated 25 October 2026