Morgan Ortagus has announced that she is running in the upcoming primary election to serve as the Republican nominee for an open congressional seat in Tennessee’s 5th District. Ortagus, a senior adviser for the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, was the US State Department spokesperson under former Secretary Mike Pompeo.
Ortagus previously held several government positions, including deputy attaché and intelligence analyst for the Treasury Department and public affairs officer at the US Agency for International Development (USAID); and was a national security contributor at Fox News. She is an officer in the United States Navy Reserve.
In May 2020, Ortagus gave an extensive interview to The Media Line [3] in which she reflected on her years of experience in the Middle East, including work with USAID in Baghdad, Iraq, and as the Treasury attaché at the US Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.