[2] He previously served as the deputy national security adviser to the Vice President to Dick Cheney from 2001 to 2005[3] and chairman of the Idaho Republican Party from 2014 to 2017.

[7] He was a senior policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation from 1996 to 2001;[8] and served as deputy national security advisor to the Vice President to Dick Cheney from 2001 to 2005.

[26][27] Days before the election, a flyer attacking Yates was mailed to Idaho voters, claiming hidden foreign influence and conflating support from democratic Taiwan with that from communist China.

[28] In December 2020, Yates was appointed by Michael Pack as the president of Radio Free Asia, a government–funded, nonprofit international broadcasting corporation.

[2] In January 2021, he and other leaders associated with the prior presidential administration were fired by Pack's successor, acting CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media, Kelu Chao.