The United States secretary of veterans affairs is the head of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs,the department concerned with veterans' benefits,health care,and national veterans' memorials and cemeteries. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet and second to last at sixteenth in the line of succession to the presidency. Until the appointment of David Shulkin in 2017,all appointees and acting appointees to the post were United States military veterans,but that is not a requirement to fill the position.
John William Warner III was an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1979 to 2009. Warner served as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1999 to 2001,and again from 2003 to 2007. He also served as the Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee from 1995 to 1999.
Peter Pace is a retired United States Marine Corps general who served as the 16th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Pace was the first Marine officer appointed as chairman and the first Marine officer to be appointed to three different four-star assignments;the others were as the sixth vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 1,2001,to August 12,2005,and as Commander-in-Chief,U.S. Southern Command from September 8,2000,to September 30,2001. Appointed chairman by President George W. Bush,Pace succeeded U.S. Air Force General Richard Myers on September 30,2005.
The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency from 1946 to 2005,acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Security Council,as well as the coordinator of intelligence activities among and between the various US intelligence agencies.
Nicholas Frederick Brady is an American politician from the state of New Jersey,who was the United States Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush,and is also known for articulating the Brady Plan in March 1989. In 1982,he was appointed to succeed Harrison A. Williams as a United States Senator until a special election could be held. He served in the Senate for 8 months.
Harriet Ellan Miers is an American lawyer who served as White House counsel to President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party since 1988,she previously served as White House staff secretary from 2001 to 2003 and White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy from 2003 until 2005. In 2005,Miers was nominated by Bush to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor,but—in the face of bipartisan opposition—asked Bush to withdraw her nomination. Following her withdrawal in 2007,Miers returned to private practice,becoming a partner in the litigation and public policy group at Locke Lord.
Within a week after the 2004 United States presidential election,many members of President George W. Bush's cabinet announced their resignation in what major media outlets and Bush himself called the White House shakeup. Several top advisers were also involved,although they are not technically cabinet members.
Gillespie V. "Sonny" Montgomery was an American soldier and politician from Mississippi who served in the Mississippi Senate and U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1997. He was also a retired major general of the Mississippi National Guard who served during World War II.
John Dudley Hutson is a former United States Navy officer,attorney,and former Judge Advocate General of the Navy. He is a former dean and president of University of New Hampshire School of Law in Concord,New Hampshire,having served in the position from 2000 to 2010.
Robert Michael Kimmitt was United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury under President George W. Bush. He was nominated by President Bush on June 29,2005. The United States Senate unanimously confirmed him on July 29,2005,and he was sworn into office on August 16,2005. Kimmitt served through the end of the Bush administration,leaving office on January 20,2009.
The deputy secretary of veterans affairs,in the United States government,is the chief operating officer of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs,responsible for a nationwide system of health care services,benefits programs,and national cemeteries for America's veterans and their dependents. The deputy secretary is the second-highest-ranking officer in the Department and succeeds the secretary of veterans affairs in the event of his resignation,death,or otherwise inability to fulfill his duties.
Quinn Gillespie &Associates (QGA) was an American lobbying and communications firm founded in 2000 by Republican political strategist Ed Gillespie and Democratic operative Jack Quinn. It was sold in 2004 to WPP,one of the world's largest communications services groups,and ceased operations in December 2017.
Michael Bruce Donley is a United States government official who is the director of administration and management in the Office of the Secretary of Defense since May 2021,having served in the same position from 2005 to 2008. In the Bush and Obama administrations,Donley served as the 22nd secretary of the Air Force,amongst other positions. Donley has 30 years of experience in the national security community,including service on the staff of the United States Senate,White House and The Pentagon.
Dan Gregory Blair currently serves as an independent senior consultant to the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Formerly,Blair served in senior positions in the nonprofit sector. He served as a senior counselor examining and recommending reforms on the presidential appointments process for the Center on Presidential Transition. He also served as Fellow and Senior Counselor at the Bipartisan Policy Center and led a task force of government and private sector management experts charged with examining government oversight issues. He also advises private sector clients on a broad array of government management and postal issues.
Robert Michael "Mike" Walker is the former United States Under Secretary of the Army (1997-1998).
Bobbie Kilberg is an American political advisor who has worked for Presidents Richard Nixon,Gerald Ford,George H. W. Bush,and George W. Bush. Kilberg has served as the president and CEO of the Northern Virginia Technology Council since 1998. She was briefly an attorney with the Washington law firm of Arnold &Porter from 1971 to 1973. She served on the staff of President Richard Nixon's United States Domestic Policy Council,under President Gerald Ford as Associate Counsel,and for President George H.W. Bush as Deputy Assistant to the President for Public Liaison and director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.
Christopher Ashley Ford is an American lawyer and government official who served from January 2018 until January 2021 as Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Non-Proliferation. He was nominated to that position by President Donald Trump,and confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate on December 21,2017. After October 21,2019,Ford also,by delegation from Secretary of State Michael Pompeo,performed the duties of the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security until his resignation from the Department of State on January 8,2021.
Gary Kim Wincup was United States Assistant Secretary of the Army from 1989 to 1992 and Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Acquisition) in 1992.
The presidential transition of George W. Bush took place following the 2000 United States presidential election. It started after Bush was declared the victor of the election on December 12,2000,when the Bush v. Gore decision by the Supreme Court halted the election recount in Florida,making Bush the victor in that state. The decision delivered him the state's 25 electoral votes,thus giving him a total of 271 electoral votes. This was one more vote than the 270 needed to win the presidency outright,making him president-elect.
Robert Anthony Paduchik is an American political advisor who served as the co-chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2017 to 2019. He was also a senior advisor for the Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign. He was also the campaign's Ohio state director in 2016.
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