Denis McDonough

Last updated

Denis McDonough's voice
Denis McDonough's opening statement at his confirmation hearing to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Recorded January 27, 2021
Denis McDonough
Secretary McDonough, official photo.jpg
Official portrait, 2021
11th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office
February 9, 2021
Preceded by Robert Wilkie

Denis Richard McDonough (born December 2, 1969) is an American government official serving under President Joe Biden since 2021 as the eleventh United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. [1]

Contents

McDonough served in the Obama administration as chief of staff at the National Security Council from 2009 to 2010 and as Deputy National Security Advisor from 2010 to 2013. He then served as White House Chief of Staff for the full second term of President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017. [2]

Early life and education

McDonough was born on December 2, 1969, in Stillwater, Minnesota. [3] He was one of 11 children in a devout Irish Catholic family, his grandparents having emigrated from Connemara in the Gaeltacht. [4] [5]

McDonough graduated from Stillwater Area High School in 1988, [6] then attended Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota [7] He played safety on the Johnnies football team for Hall of Fame coach John Gagliardi [8] [9] and was a member of teams that won two conference titles in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. McDonough graduated from Saint John's University with a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude , in history and Spanish in 1992. After graduation, he traveled extensively throughout Latin America and taught high school in Belize. [8]

In 1996, McDonough earned an MSFS degree at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. [8]

Career

From 1996 to 1999, McDonough worked as an aide for the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, [10] where he focused on Latin America. [3] He then served as a senior foreign policy advisor to Senator Tom Daschle. [8] After Daschle's reelection defeat in 2004, McDonough became legislative director for newly elected Senator Ken Salazar. [8] McDonough was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in 2004. [3]

In 2007, Senator Barack Obama's chief foreign policy advisor Mark Lippert, a Navy reservist, was called into active duty. [11] Lippert recruited McDonough to serve as his replacement during his deployment to Iraq. [8] [12] McDonough continued to serve as a senior foreign policy advisor to Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign. [3] [13]

Obama administration

McDonough, seated, third from right in blue shirt, in the Situation Room during the Bin Laden raid. Obama and Biden await updates on bin Laden.jpg
McDonough, seated, third from right in blue shirt, in the Situation Room during the Bin Laden raid.
McDonough conferring with Obama about the Cairo Speech, with Ben Rhodes, on June 4, 2009. President Barack Obama confers about the Cairo speech with Denis McDonough and speechwriter Ben Rhodes on Air Force One en route to Cairo, Egypt, June 4, 2009.jpg
McDonough conferring with Obama about the Cairo Speech, with Ben Rhodes, on June 4, 2009.

After Obama was elected president, McDonough joined the administration as the National Security Council's head of strategic communication. [10] He also served as National Security Council chief of staff. [14]

On October 20, 2010, Obama announced that McDonough would replace Thomas E. Donilon as Deputy National Security Advisor, who had been promoted to succeed General James L. Jones as National Security Advisor. [15] McDonough was seen in photos of the White House Situation Room taken during the monitoring of the May 2011 SEAL operation in Pakistan that resulted in the Osama bin Laden's death. [16]

On January 20, 2013, at the beginning of his second term in office, Obama appointed McDonough his chief of staff. [7] In February 2013 McDonough urged lawmakers to quickly confirm Chuck Hagel and John O. Brennan to their posts in Obama's national security team, expressing "grave concern" about the delays. McDonough served as White House chief of staff through the end of Obama's second term, which ended on January 20, 2017.

Return to private life

In 2017, McDonough joined the Markle Foundation, [17] a nonprofit that aims to "transform America's outdated labor market to reflect the needs of the digital economy," boost employment opportunities, and expand job training for Americans. As a senior principal, [18] he worked to grow the organization nationwide and broaden its work with governments such as the state of Colorado, public institutions such as Arizona State University, and private companies such as LinkedIn. [19] [18]

McDonough is a professor of the practice at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs and a visiting senior fellow in Carnegie's Technology and International Affairs Program. [20] [17]

Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2021–present)

McDonough being sworn in on February 9, 2021
Secretary McDonough with First Lady Jill Biden and Secretary Xavier Becerra, June 4, 2021 First Lady Jill Biden with Secretary Becerra and Secretary McDonough.jpg
Secretary McDonough with First Lady Jill Biden and Secretary Xavier Becerra, June 4, 2021

President Joe Biden nominated McDonough to lead the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. [21] He appeared before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee on January 27, 2021. On February 8, the Senate confirmed McDonough as VA Secretary by a 87–7 vote, with six senators absent. [22] McDonough is the second non-veteran to hold this position. [23] Vice President Kamala Harris swore him in on February 9. [24]

Personal life

McDonough is married to Karin Hillstrom. [5] They have three children. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Daschle</span> American politician (born 1947)

Thomas Andrew Daschle is an American politician and lobbyist who represented South Dakota in the United States Senate from 1987 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he led the Senate Democratic Caucus during the final ten years of his tenure, during which time he served as Senate Minority Leader and Majority Leader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States National Security Council</span> U.S. federal executive national security and intelligence forum

The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the president of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, and composed of senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs</span> U.S. Cabinet position

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.

The United States order of precedence is an advisory document maintained by the Ceremonials Division of the Office of the Chief of Protocol of the United States which lists the ceremonial order, or relative preeminence, for domestic and foreign government officials at diplomatic, ceremonial, and social events within the United States and abroad. The list is used to mitigate miscommunication and embarrassment in diplomacy, and offer a distinct and concrete spectrum of preeminence for ceremonies. Often the document is used to advise diplomatic and ceremonial event planners on seating charts and order of introduction. Former presidents, vice presidents, first ladies, second ladies, and secretaries of state and retired Supreme Court justices are also included in the list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ash Carter</span> American government official (1954–2022)

Ashton Baldwin Carter was an American government official and academic who served as the 25th United States secretary of defense from February 2015 to January 2017. He later served as director of the Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stillwater Area High School</span> Public school in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota, United States

Stillwater Area High School (SAHS) is a public school located in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota, United States. It serves as the primary high school for the Stillwater Area Public School District (834), the oldest public school district in Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark W. Lippert</span> American diplomat (born 1973)

Mark William Lippert is an American diplomat who worked as the vice president for international affairs at Boeing from 2017 to 2020. In 2022, he was appointed Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics America. He previously served as the United States Ambassador to South Korea from 2014 to 2017. Prior to his tour as an ambassador, Lippert had served as Chief of Staff for Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Chief of Staff for the National Security Council, and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs in the Department of Defense. On March 5, 2015, he was attacked by a man wielding a knife in South Korea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Nabors</span> American government official (born 1971)

Robert Lee Nabors II was the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from 2014 to 2016. He previously served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and several other senior roles in the Obama White House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas E. Donilon</span> American National Security Advisor

Thomas Edward Donilon is an American lawyer, business executive, and former government official who served as the 22nd National Security Advisor in the Obama administration from 2010 to 2013. Donilon also worked in the Carter and Clinton administrations, including as chief of staff of the U.S. State Department. He is now Chairman of the BlackRock Investment Institute, the firm's global think tank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabinet of Barack Obama</span>

Barack Obama assumed office as President of the United States on January 20, 2009, and his term ended on January 20, 2017. The president has the authority to nominate members of his Cabinet to the United States Senate for confirmation under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob McDonald (businessman)</span> American businessman and politician (born 1953)

Robert Alan McDonald served as the eighth United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He is the retired chairman, president, and CEO of Procter & Gamble. In 2014 he became Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antony Blinken</span> American lawyer and diplomat (born 1962)

Antony John Blinken is an American lawyer and diplomat currently serving as the 71st United States secretary of state. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under President Barack Obama. Blinken was previously national security advisor to then-Vice President Joe Biden from 2009 to 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jake Sullivan</span> American attorney (born 1976)

Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan is an American attorney serving since 2021 as the U.S. National Security Advisor. He previously served as Director of Policy to President Barack Obama, National Security Advisor to then-Vice President Biden and Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary Hillary Clinton at the U.S. Department of State. Sullivan also served as senior advisor to the U.S. federal government at the Iran nuclear negotiations and senior policy advisor to Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, as well as visiting professor at Yale Law School. On November 23, 2020, President-elect Biden announced that Sullivan would be appointed the United States National Security Advisor. He took office on January 20, 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kristie Canegallo</span> U.S. government official

Kristie Canegallo is a U.S. government official serving as the acting United States deputy secretary of homeland security (DHS) since July 2023. She joined DHS in January 2022 as its chief of staff. Canegallo was a White House deputy chief of staff for policy implementation from 2014 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall</span> American government official (born 1959)

Elizabeth D. Sherwood-Randall is an American national security and energy leader, public servant, educator, and author currently serving as the 11th United States Homeland Security Advisor to President Joe Biden since 2021. She previously served in the Clinton and Obama Administrations and held appointments at academic institutions and think tanks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalie Quillian</span> American political strategist

Natalie Quillian is an American political strategist serving as a White House Deputy Chief of Staff during the Biden administration since February 2023. She previously served as the White House Deputy Coronavirus Response Coordinator from January 2021 to April 2022. Quillian was a senior advisor to Denis McDonough, the White House Chief of Staff, during the Obama administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Remy</span> American attorney (born 1967)

Donald Michael Remy is an American attorney, former military officer, and athletic administrator who served in the Biden administration as the 9th United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs between July 2021 and April 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanya J. Bradsher</span> American military officer

Tanya J. Bradsher is an American government official and retired military officer who is the United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

References

  1. ↑ @Transition46 (December 10, 2020). "Working families, veterans, farmers and producers, and those fighting for their place in the middle class will have partners in government once again. This experienced group will help us make it through this pandemic and thrive once the crisis is over" (Tweet). Retrieved December 10, 2020– via Twitter.
  2. ↑ Nakamura, David (November 26, 2021). "Denis McDonough to be Obama's new chief of staff". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "The New Team". The New York Times . Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Who is Denis McDonough?". Our Daily Thread. January 25, 2013. Archived from the original on September 5, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 O'Dowd, Niall (January 25, 2013). "Denis McDonough new Obama Chief of Staff deeply proud of his Irish heritage". Irish Central. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  6. ↑ Boldt, Megan (January 25, 2013). "Denis McDonough: Obama picks Stillwater native as chief of staff". St. Paul Pioneer Press. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  7. 1 2 "Denis McDonough – Keough School – University of Notre Dame" . Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Arthur Eisele (Winter 2009). "At Home in the West Wing: An Interview with Denis McDonough '92" (PDF). Saint John's Magazine. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 4, 2011. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
  9. ↑ Thayer Evans (September 18, 2009). "No Whistles, No Tackling and No End in Sight for St. John's Coach". The New York Times . Retrieved October 23, 2010.
  10. 1 2 Garance Franke-Ruta (October 22, 2010). "Denis McDonough: Five things worth knowing". WhoRunsGov. The Washington Post Company. Archived from the original on October 25, 2010. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
  11. ↑ Keating, Joshua E. (January 16, 2013). "6 Things You Need to Know About Denis McDonough". Foreign Policy. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  12. ↑ Monica Langley (September 22, 2007). "From the Campaign to the Battlefront". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved October 23, 2010.
  13. ↑ "Obama's People". The New York Times Magazine . January 18, 2009. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
  14. ↑ Helene Cooper (July 9, 2010). "The Saturday Profile: The Adviser at the Heart of National Security". The New York Times . Retrieved October 23, 2010.
  15. ↑ Peter Baker (October 22, 2010). "Obama Making National Security Appointment". The New York Times. The Caucus Blog. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
  16. ↑ "Osama bin Laden Situation Room Photo: Where Are They Now?". Time. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  17. 1 2 "Denis McDonough – Keough School – University of Notre Dame" . Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  18. 1 2 "Denis McDonough Joins the Markle Foundation". Markle | Advancing America's Future. February 13, 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  19. ↑ Megan R. Wilson (February 15, 2017). "Obama's chief of staff joins foundation with focus on jobs". The Hill . Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  20. ↑ "Denis McDonough". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  21. ↑ "WATCH: VA Secretary nominee Denis McDonough testifies in Senate confirmation hearing". PBS NewsHour. January 27, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  22. ↑ "Roll Call Vote 117th Congress – 1st Session". US Senate. February 8, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  23. ↑ Shane III, Leo (December 10, 2020). "Biden to name former WH Chief of Staff Denis McDonough as VA Secretary nominee". Defense News. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  24. ↑ Wentling, Nikki (February 9, 2021). "McDonough is sworn in as VA secretary; calls it the 'honor of my lifetime'". Stars and Stripes. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
Political offices
Preceded by Deputy National Security Advisor
2010–2013		Succeeded by
Preceded by White House Chief of Staff
2013–2017		Succeeded by
Preceded by United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
2021–present		Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded byas Secretary of Education Order of precedence of the United States
as Secretary of Veterans Affairs		Succeeded byas Secretary of Homeland Security
U.S. presidential line of succession
Preceded byas Secretary of Education 16th in line
as Secretary of Veterans Affairs		Succeeded by
Alejandro Mayorkas
Ineligible
as Secretary of Homeland Security
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.