Ryan Zinke (1 November 1961-) was a member of the US House of Representatives (R-MT) from 3 January 2015 to 1 March 2017 (succeeding Steve Daines and preceding Greg Gianforte) and from MT-1 from 3 January 2023, and United States Secretary of the Interior from 1 March 2017 to 2 January 2019 (succeeding Sally Jewell and preceding David Bernhardt).
Biography[]
Ryan Zinke was born in Bozeman, Montana on 1 November 1961, and he played college football at the University of Oregon before earning a bachelor's degree in geology. From 1986 to 2008, he served in the US Navy SEALs, and he retired with the rank of commander. In 2015, he became the first Navy SEAL to be elected to the US House of Representatives. He served on the Natural Resources Committee and the Armed Services Committee, and he supported the use of ground troops in the Middle East to combat the Islamic State and opposed Obamacare, environmental regulations, and the transfer of federal lands to individual states. In 2017, he became the first Navy SEAL and first Montanan to hold a cabinet position, having been appointed Secretary of the Interior on 1 March 2017 by President Donald Trump. However, he was controversial due to his trophy hunting and Hatch Act violations. In 2019, he resigned amid a Justice Department investigation into his ethics violations, and he returned to politics in 2022, when he was re-elected to Congress.