Matthew G. Whitaker has been permanent representative of the United States to NATO since April 2025. He previously served as acting attorney general of the United States from 2018 to 2019, following his tenure as chief of staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He was US attorney for the Southern District of Iowa from 2004 to 2009.
In private practice, Whitaker was the managing partner of Whitaker Hagenow & Gustoff, LLP, a Des Moines-based law firm, from 2009 until he rejoined the US Department of Justice in 2017. He has served as a senior fellow at the American Cornerstone Institute, co-chair of the Center for Law and Justice at the America First Policy Institute, and a senior fellow at the American Conservative Union Foundation, and was of counsel with Graves Garrett Greim, a law firm.
Whitaker holds an MBA, law degree, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa. During his time there, he was a three-year letterman on the football team and played in the 1991 Rose Bowl.