[5] As a member of Congress, Zinke supported the use of ground troops in the Middle East to combat ISIS, and opposed the Affordable Care Act, various environmental regulations, and the transfer of federal lands to individual states.

[16][17] His tenure as the interior secretary was plagued by scandals, including his insistence that special flagpoles be erected so that flags could be raised or lowered when he was in residence, spending over $200,000 of taxpayer money to do so.

"[29] In 2006, he was selected to establish the Naval Special Warfare Advanced Training Command, serving as dean of the graduate school until his retirement from active duty in 2008.

[41] In 2010, he signed a letter calling global warming "a threat multiplier for instability in the most volatile regions of the world" and saying that "the clean energy and climate challenge is America's new space race".

In 2012, Zinke founded a super PAC named Special Operations for America, or SOFA, to support Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign.

[46] Zinke appointed right-wing commentator Paul E. Vallely, a promoter of "birther" claims and other anti-Obama conspiracy theories, to SOFA's board.

[46] In 2013, Zinke hosted a radio show in which he engaged with and promoted fringe conspiratorial views, including birtherism (the contention that Obama was not born in the United States).

[51] Zinke won the five-way Republican primary with 43,766 votes (33.25%) and defeated Libertarian perennial candidate Mike Fellows and Democratic nominee John Lewis, a former state director for U.S.

[52] In Congress, Zinke supported the deployment of U.S. ground troops to combat ISIS, "abandoning" the Affordable Care Act, and cutting regulations.

[53] Zinke condemned the "anti-Semitic views" held by neo-Nazis planning a march in support of Richard B. Spencer in Whitefish, Montana, in January 2017.

[62] In July 2016, he withdrew as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in protest of the portion of the party's draft platform that would require that certain public lands be transferred to state control.

[63] In 2016, Zinke ran unopposed in the Republican primary on June 7 and faced the Democratic nominee, Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau in the general election on November 8.

[citation needed] In 2023, Zinke voted against House Concurrent Resolution 21, which directed President Joe Biden to remove U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days.

[73] During the 2023 Israel-Hamas War, Zinke introduced legislation that would prohibit individuals who held passports from the Palestinian Authority from entering or seeking refuge in the US.

Zinke said in a statement:"Over the past eight years … hunting, and recreation enthusiasts have seen trails closed and dramatic decreases in access to public lands across the board.

[95] In September 2017, it was reported that on June 26, Zinke had chartered a jet belonging to an oil industry executive for a flight from Las Vegas to Kalispell, Montana.

Upon arrival in Kalispell, Zinke spent the night at his private residence before delivering remarks at the annual meeting of the Western Governors Association the next morning.

[100] In March 2018, the Associated Press reported that the Interior Department spent approximately $139,000 to upgrade three sets of double doors in Zinke's office.

"[102][103] In October 2017, the United States Office of Special Counsel launched a Hatch Act investigation into Zinke's meeting with the Vegas Golden Knights.

[107] The two Connecticut tribes claim that the Interior Department refused to sign off on the casino project after intense lobbying by MGM Resorts International and two Nevada Republican lawmakers.

"[112] In November 2017, it was announced that Trump, on Zinke's advice, wanted to lift the import ban on elephant and other big-game trophies from Zambia and Zimbabwe to the United States.

[113] Critics feared that lifting the import ban would trigger a wave of U.S. hunters, and that the decision would be a major blow to the survival of the elephant species.

[114][115][116] In a memo dated March 1, 2018, the Fish and Wildlife Services, which operates under the Department of the Interior, declared that it would permit trophy hunting for elephants on a "case-by-case basis.

[120][121] In April 2021, a federal judge blocked this expansion of livestock grazing in Nevada across four hundred square miles (1,000 km2) of some of the highest-priority sage-grouse habitat in the West.

In a letter sent to Zinke and members of Congress, the former officials wrote, "This legal opinion is contrary to the long-standing interpretation by every administration (Republican and Democrat) since at least the 1970s.

[128] In 2017, in a speech to the National Petroleum Council, Zinke said that one-third of Interior Department employees were disloyal to Trump and that "[he's] got 30 percent of the crew that's not loyal to the flag".

His remarks prompted objections from the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, Public Lands Foundation and Association of Retired Fish and Wildlife Service Employees (which called the comments "simply ludicrous, and deeply insulting")[132] and Senator Maria Cantwell, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (who said that Zinke had a "fundamental misunderstanding of the role" of the federal civil service).

Fire scientists and forestry experts rejected that claim, attributing the increasingly destructive wildfires to heat and drought caused by climate change.

[136] In October 2018, FOIA requests revealed that Zinke's calendar, which was supposed to cover the Secretary of the Interior's activities, contained glaring omissions.

[142] Zinke himself later posted a statement on Twitter, saying, "I cannot justify spending thousands of dollars defending myself and my family against false allegations…It is better for the President and Interior to focus on accomplishments rather than fictitious allegations.