The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense,the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces,and is a high-ranking member of the federal cabinet. The secretary of defense's position of command and authority over the military is second only to that of the president of the United States,who is the commander-in-chief. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a defense minister in many other countries. The secretary of defense is appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate,and is by custom a member of the Cabinet and by law a member of the National Security Council.
James Franklin Jeffrey is an American diplomat who served most recently as the United States Special Representative for Syria Engagement and the Special Envoy to the International military intervention against ISIL.
William James Crowe Jr. was a United States Navy admiral and diplomat who served as the 11th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush,and as the ambassador to the United Kingdom and Chair of the Intelligence Oversight Board under President Bill Clinton.
Vice Admiral Melvin Gene Williams Jr. is an American retired officer in the United States Navy. He is the former Commander,U.S. Second Fleet and former director,Combined Joint Operations from the Sea Center of Excellence.
James George Stavridis is a retired United States Navy admiral and vice chair,global affairs,and a managing director-partner of The Carlyle Group,a global investment firm,and chair of the board of trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation. Stavridis serves as the chief international diplomacy and national security analyst for NBC News in New York. He is also chair emeritus of the board of directors of the United States Naval Institute and a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Margaret DeLuca "Peg" Klein is a former United States Navy officer who held the rank of rear admiral at the time of her retirement in March 2017. She currently serves as the dean of the College of Leadership and Ethics at the Naval War College.
Jeffrey D. "J.D." Gordon is an American communications and foreign policy adviser,who served as a Pentagon spokesman during the George W. Bush administration and later a national security adviser to Donald Trump. Gordon is a retired United States Navy officer who was a senior adviser to numerous prominent Republican political figures. Gordon has also been a television commentator and columnist with various media outlets including One America News Network,Fox News,Sky News,The Daily Caller,USA Today,The Hill,The Washington Times and others. Gordon founded Protect America Today,a national security–themed Super PAC in February 2012.
John Rutherford Allen is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general,and former commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces –Afghanistan (USFOR-A). On September 13,2014,President Barack Obama appointed Allen as special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL. He was succeeded in that role by Brett McGurk on October 23,2015. He is the co-author of Turning Point:Policymaking in the Era of Artificial Intelligence with Darrell M. West and Future War and the Defence of Europe alongside Lieutenant General (Ret.) Ben Hodges and Professor Julian Lindley French. Allen was president of the Brookings Institution from October 2017 until his resignation on June 12,2022.
Craig Michael Mullaney is a United States Army veteran and author of The Unforgiving Minute:A Soldier's Education.
Senior Advisor to the President is a title used by high-ranking political advisors to the president of the United States. White House senior advisors are senior members of the White House Office. The title has been formally used since 1993.
Bonnie Denise Jenkins currently serves as the under secretary of state for arms control and international security affairs. During the Obama administration,she was the U.S. Department of State's coordinator for threat reduction programs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.
Kiron Kanina Skinner is an American academic and former government official. She was Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State in the first Trump administration. Skinner is presently the Taube Professor of International Relations and Politics at the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy,where she teaches graduate courses in national security and public leadership. Prior to that,she was the Taube Professor of International Relations and Politics at Carnegie Mellon University,and the founding director of the Institute for Politics and Strategy and associated centers at the university. She is also the W. Glenn Campbell Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. After leaving the Department of State,she returned to her position at Carnegie Mellon University until stepping down in 2021.
John F. Kirby is a retired United States Navy rear admiral serving as White House National Security Communications Advisor since 2022. He previously served in the Biden administration as Pentagon Press Secretary and Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs from 2021 to 2022. He worked as a military and diplomatic analyst for CNN from 2017 to 2021. He served in the Obama administration as Pentagon Press Secretary from 2013 to 2015 and as the spokesperson for the United States Department of State and Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs from 2015 to 2017.
Janine Anne Davidson is an American public servant who has served as the President of the Metropolitan State University of Denver since 2017. Davidson is known for expertise on topics such as military operations,U.S. foreign policy and national security policy as well as higher education leadership.
Joseph Keith Kellogg Jr. is a former United States government official and a retired lieutenant general in the United States Army. He previously served as the National Security Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence,and as the Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff of the United States National Security Council in the first Trump administration. He served as National Security Advisor on an acting basis following the resignation of Michael T. Flynn.
Ricky "Rick" Allen Dearborn is an American government official and lobbyist who served as the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative,Intergovernmental Affairs and Implementation in the first administration of U.S. President Donald Trump for less than a year from 2017 to 2018. Prior to this role,he was the executive director of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential transition team and served in various positions on the U.S. Senate staff.
Peter O'Rourke is an American government official. He served as the acting United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs and VA Chief of Staff under President Donald Trump. He previously worked in various positions in government consulting,including as a congressional staffer for U.S. Representative Tom Latham,and as an employee for CALIBRE Systems,and he also served as the executive director of the Republican Party of Florida.
Julia Nesheiwat is an American national security adviser who served as the 10th homeland security advisor in the Trump administration from 2020 to 2021. She also served in the Bush and Obama administrations.
Shawn Graham Skelly is a retired United States Navy officer,national security expert,and LGBT rights advocate who is serving as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness. She is currently fulfilling the duties of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness since September 11,2023.
