Department of Defense appointments by Donald Trump

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Color key[]

  Denotes appointees serving in offices that did not require Senate confirmation.

  Denotes appointees confirmed by the Senate.

  Denotes appointees awaiting Senate confirmation.

  Denotes appointees serving in an acting capacity.

  Denotes appointees who have left office or offices which have been disbanded.

  Denotes nominees who were withdrawn prior to being confirmed or assuming office.

Appointments[]

Main Department[]

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of Defense	Mark Esper	June 24, 2019	July 15, 2019
		July 23, 2019 (Confirmed July 23, 2019, 90–8)	November 9, 2020
	Chris Miller	November 9, 2020
Deputy Secretary of Defense	David Norquist	January 2, 2019	July 23, 2019
		July 31, 2019 (Confirmed July 30, 2019, voice vote)
Chief Management Officer of Defense	Lisa Hershman[1][2]	December 30, 2019 (Confirmed December 19, 2019, voice vote)
		December 1, 2018[3]	December 30, 2019
General Counsel of Defense	Paul C. Ney Jr.[4]	August 20, 2018 (Confirmed July 12, 2018, 70–23)
Inspector General of Defense	[5]	Upon Senate confirmation
	Sean O'Donnell[6]	April 6, 2020
Chief Information Officer of Defense	[7]	TBD (Confirmed December 19, 2019, voice vote)
		May 7, 2018 (Appointed April 5, 2018)
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Legislative Affairs)	Robert R. Hood	August 8, 2017 (Confirmed August 1, 2017, voice vote)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff	Mark A. Milley	September 30, 2019 (Confirmed July 25, 2019, 89–1)
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff	John E. Hyten[8]	November 21, 2019 (Confirmed September 26, 2019, 75–22)
Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition and Sustainment)	Ellen Lord	August 10, 2017 (Confirmed August 1, 2017, voice vote)
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition and Sustainment)	[9]	January 28, 2019 (Confirmed January 2, 2019, voice vote)
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs)	Vacant
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Acquisition)	Kevin Fahey[10]	March 16, 2018 (Confirmed February 15, 2018, voice vote)
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Sustainment)	Jordan Gillis[11]	March 30, 2020 (Confirmed March 26, 2020, voice vote)
Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation	John E. Whitley	August 16, 2019
Under Secretary of Defense (Research and Engineering)	Michael Kratsios	July 13, 2020
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Research and Engineering)	Mark J. Lewis	July 13, 2020
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Energy, Installations and Environment)	Lucian Niemeyer	August 2, 2017 (Confirmed August 1, 2017, voice vote)
Director of Operational Test and Evaluation	Robert Behler[12]	December 11, 2017 (Confirmed November 16, 2017, voice vote)
Under Secretary of Defense (Policy)	Anthony Tata	November 10, 2020
	James H. Anderson[13][14]	February 29, 2020	November 10, 2020
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Policy)		June 8, 2020 (Confirmed June 3, 2020, 78–17)	November 10, 2020
		November 10, 2020
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities)	[15]	June 8, 2020 (Confirmed June 2, 2020, 75–15)
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Homeland Defense and Global Security)	Kenneth Rapuano	June 2, 2017 (Confirmed May 25, 2017, 95–1)
Assistant Secretary of Defense (International Security Affairs)		September 1, 2020
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Space Policy)	[16]	October 29, 2020
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs)		August 12, 2019 (Confirmed August 1, 2019, voice vote)
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict)		November 17, 2020
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Indo-Pacific Security Affairs)	[17]	January 1, 2020
Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)	Thomas Harker	June 27, 2020
Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)	Vacant
Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness)	Matthew Donovan[18]	March 23, 2020 (Confirmed March 23, 2020, voice vote)
		December 13, 2019	March 3, 2020
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness)
	[19]	July 29, 2019
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower and Reserve Affairs)	[20]	February 12, 2018
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Readiness)	[21]	January 31, 2020
Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence)	Joseph D. Kernan	December 11, 2017 (Confirmed November 16, 2017, voice vote)	November 10, 2020
	Ezra Cohen	November 10, 2020
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence and Security)	Vacant
National Security Agency
Inspector General of the National Security Agency	Robert Storch	January 2, 2018 (Confirmed December 21, 2017, voice vote)
Permanent Joint Board on Defense
Chairman of the United States Section of the Permanent Joint Board on Defense for the United States and Canada	[13]
National Reconnaissance Office
Director of the National Reconnaissance Office	Christopher Scolese[22]	August 5, 2019 (Confirmed June 27, 2019, voice vote)

Department of the Army[]

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of the Army	Ryan McCarthy	July 23, 2019	September 30, 2019
		September 30, 2019 (Confirmed September 26, 2019, voice vote)
General Counsel of the Army	Vacant
Under Secretary of the Army	James E. McPherson	July 23, 2019	March 25, 2020
		March 25, 2020 (Confirmed March 23, 2020, voice vote)
Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology)	Bruce D. Jette	January 2, 2018 (Confirmed December 20, 2017, voice vote)
Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works)	[23]	February 26, 2018 (Confirmed January 25, 2018, 89–1)
Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller)	John E. Whitley[24]	September 26, 2018 (Confirmed September 18, 2018, voice vote)
Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Energy and Environment)	Alex A. Beehler[25]	January 10, 2019 (Confirmed January 2, 2019, voice vote)
Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs)	Casey Wardynski[26]	January 16, 2019 (Confirmed January 2, 2019, voice vote)
United States Military Academy
Member of the Board of Visitors to the United States Military Academy	[13]
	Jim Nicholson[13]
	David Urban[27]
	Guy C. Swan III[27]

Department of the Navy[]

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of the Navy	Kenneth Braithwaite[28]	May 29, 2020 (Confirmed May 21, 2020, voice vote)
General Counsel of the Navy	Robert Sander[29]	January 6, 2020 (Confirmed December 19, 2019, voice vote)
Under Secretary of the Navy	Greg Slavonic[30]	April 24, 2020[31]
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Manpower and Reserve Affairs)		June 11, 2018 (Confirmed May 24, 2018, voice vote)
	[32]	June 24, 2020
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy, Installations and Environment)	[33]	April 24, 2020 (Confirmed March 26, 2020, voice vote)
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management and Comptroller)	Thomas Harker	January 2, 2018 (Confirmed December 20, 2017, voice vote)
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition)	James Geurts	December 5, 2017 (Confirmed November 16, 2017, voice vote)
United States Naval Academy
Members of the Board of Visitors to the United States Naval Academy	[34]
	George Gould[34]
	Ronny Jackson[34]
	Sean Spicer[27]
	Jonathan D. Hiler[35]

Department of the Air Force[]

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of the Air Force	Barbara Barrett[36]	October 18, 2019 (Confirmed October 16, 2019, 85-7)
General Counsel of the Air Force	Thomas E. Ayres[37]	February 21, 2018 (Confirmed February 15, 2018, voice vote)
Under Secretary of the Air Force	Shon J. Manasco	December 2019
Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Acquisition)	Will Roper[38]	March 9, 2018 (Confirmed February 15, 2018, voice vote)
Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Financial Management & Comptroller)	John P. Roth	January 2, 2018 (Confirmed December 20, 2017, voice vote)
Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Installations, Environment & Energy)	John Henderson[39][40]	February 20, 2018 (Confirmed February 15, 2018, voice vote)
Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Manpower & Reserve Affairs)		December 2019[41]
United States Air Force Academy
Member of the Board of Visitors to the United States Air Force Academy	David Ehrhart[42]
	Robert Gleason[42]
	[43]
	Michael Wynne[44]

Previous officeholders[]

Office	Name	Took office	Left office	Notes
Secretary of Defense	James Mattis	January 20, 2017	December 31, 2018	President Trump tweeted that General Mattis would be "retiring" at the end of February 2019; however, Mattis wrote a strongly worded resignation letter rebuking Trump foreign policy behavior, and thus became the first ever Secretary of Defense to resign in protest. Days later, Trump tweeted that Deputy Secretary Patrick Shanahan would become Acting Secretary on January 1, 2019, two months earlier than Mattis's original departure date.
	Patrick M. Shanahan	January 1, 2019	June 23, 2019	Shanahan withdrew from consideration for Secretary of Defense.[45]
Deputy Secretary of Defense		July 19, 2017	January 1, 2019	Became Acting Secretary of Defense.
	Robert O. Work	May 1, 2014	July 14, 2017
Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense	Kevin M. Sweeney	January 23, 2017	January 5, 2019	[46]
	Eric Chewning	January 6, 2019	January 31, 2020	[47]
	Jen Stewart	February 1, 2020	November 10, 2020	Stewart was replaced by Kash Patel, who was involved in the Trump–Ukraine scandal[48]
Director of Communications to the Secretary of Defense	Guy Snodgrass	April 2017	August 2018
Chief Management Officer of Defense.	John H. Gibson	February 21, 2018	November 30, 2018	Submitted resignation on November 5, 2018.
Deputy Chief Management Officer of Defense		November 29, 2017	February 21, 2018	Became Chief Management Officer of the Department of Defense.
Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation	Robert Daigle	August 3, 2017	May 2019
Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition and Sustainment)		January 20, 2017	August 7, 2017
Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)	David Norquist	June 2, 2017	July 31, 2019	Became the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense.
	Elaine McCusker	July 31, 2019	June 26, 2020	Nominated to serve as the permanent Comptroller but on March 2, 2020 it was reported that her nomination was being withdrawn by the White House. This followed reports that in 2019 McCusker had warned that freezing military aid to Ukraine might not be legal.[49]
Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness)	Anthony Kurta	January 20, 2017	November 30, 2017
	Robert Wilkie	November 30, 2017	July 30, 2018	Became the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
	Stephanie Barna	July 30, 2018	October 22, 2018
	James N. Stewart	October 22, 2018	December 13, 2019	[50]
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower and Reserve Affairs)		October 22, 2018	December 13, 2019
	Stephanie Barna	January 20, 2017	October 22, 2018
Under Secretary of Defense (Policy)		January 20, 2017	June 5, 2017
	David Trachtenberg	October 27, 2017	January 8, 2018
	John Rood	January 9, 2018	February 19, 2020	[51]
	James Anderson	March 1, 2020	November 10, 2020	Fired the day after Secretary Mark Esper and replaced by Anthony Tata. Tata's 2018 confirmation hearing was cancelled after he referred to President Obama as a "terrorist leader".[48][52]
Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence)	Joseph D. Kernan	December 1, 2017	November 10, 2020	Resigned the day after Secretary Mark Esper was fired.[53]
Under Secretary of Defense (Research and Engineering)	Michael D. Griffin	February 19, 2018	July 10, 2020	[54]
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Logistics and Materiel Readiness)	Robert H. McMahon	November 30, 2017	August 15, 2018	Resigned to become Assistant Secretary of Defense (Sustainment).
Assistant Secretary of Defense (International Security Affairs)	Robert Karem	June 7, 2017	October 31, 2018
	Kathryn L. Wheelbarger	October 31, 2018	July 3, 2020	Resigned after the White House abruptly nixed her nomination for the permanent Assistant Secretary role over White House concerns that she was not loyal enough to the president.[55]
Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)	Dana W. White	January 2017	December 31, 2018	The Pentagon spokeswoman was being investigated by the Inspector General when she resigned.[56]
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Nuclear, Chemical & Biological Defense Programs)	Guy B. Roberts	November 30, 2017	April 2, 2019	Resigned as a result of a sexual harassment probe.[57]
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict)	Owen West	December 27, 2017	June 22, 2019	[58]
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Legislative Affairs)	Robert R. Hood	August 8, 2017	July 25, 2020	[59]
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Indo-Pacific Security Affairs)	Randall Schriver	January 8, 2018	December 12, 2019	[50]
Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)	Steven Walker	November 13, 2017	January 10, 2020	Became Chief Technology Officer of Lockheed Martin.[60]
Secretary of the Air Force	Heather Wilson	May 16, 2017	May 31, 2019	Resigned to become president of the University of Texas at El Paso.[61]
	Matthew Donovan	June 1, 2019	October 18, 2019	Under Secretary Donovan was Acting Air Force Secretary until the confirmation of Barbara Barrett.
Under Secretary of the Air Force		August 3, 2017	December 2019	Left to serve as Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness).
	Lisa Disbrow	February 24, 2016	June 30, 2017
Secretary of the Army	Robert M. Speer	January 20, 2017	August 2, 2017
	Ryan McCarthy	August 3, 2017	November 20, 2017
		June 23, 2019	July 15, 2019	McCarthy was Acting Army Secretary while Esper was Acting Defense Secretary. When Esper was confirmed as Defense Secretary, McCarthy became Acting Army Secretary yet again. On September 26, 2019, the Senate confirmed McCarthy as Army Secretary.
	Mark Esper	November 20, 2017	July 23, 2019
Secretary of Defense		June 23, 2019	July 15, 2019
		July 23, 2019	November 9, 2020	[62]
	Richard Spencer	July 15, 2019	July 23, 2019	President Trump appointed Esper Acting Defense Secretary and nominated him for Defense Secretary. By law, Esper could not serve as Acting Secretary during the confirmation process, so Spencer was Acting Defense Secretary for a brief period.
Secretary of the Navy		August 3, 2017	November 24, 2019	Forced out after clashing with President Trump over disciplining Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher.[63][64]
	Sean Stackley	January 20, 2017	August 3, 2017
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition)		July 28, 2008	August 3, 2017
Secretary of the Navy	Thomas Modly	November 25, 2019	April 7, 2020	Resigned after the controversial removal of USS Theodore Roosevelt Captain Brett Crozier.[65]
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations and Environment)		February 20, 2018	March 30, 2019
Department of Defense Inspector General	Glenn Fine	January 14, 2016	April 7, 2020	Fine had been appointed the chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee nine days before his dismissal. This committee oversaw the distribution of $2.2 trillion under the CARES Act.[66][67]
Member of the Defense Science Board	James N. Miller	2014	June 2, 2020	Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Resigned in protest after law enforcement officers used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse lawfully assembled protesters outside the White House.[68]

References[]