The deputy secretary of defense is a statutory office and the second-highest-ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America.
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 as the 6th 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 United States Department of the Air Force (DAF) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The Department of the Air Force was formed on September 18, 1947, per the National Security Act of 1947 and it is the military department within which the United States Air Force and the United States Space Force are organized.
Robert Michael Gates is an American intelligence analyst, and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was originally appointed by President George W. Bush and was retained for service by President Barack Obama. Gates began his career serving as an officer in the United States Air Force but was quickly recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Gates served for 26 years in the CIA and the National Security Council, and was Director of Central Intelligence under President George H. W. Bush. After leaving the CIA, Gates became president of Texas A&M University and was a member of several corporate boards. Gates served as a member of the Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan commission co-chaired by James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton, that studied the lessons of the Iraq War.
Ashton Baldwin Carter is an American public policy professor who served as the 25th secretary of defense from February 2015 to January 2017. He is currently Director of the Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School.
Michael Walter Wynne is an American politician and business executive and was the 21st United States Secretary of the Air Force. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates asked for and received his resignation on June 5, 2008, in the wake of the 2007 United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident and the mistaken shipment of Minuteman III parts to Taiwan in 2006, followed by an investigation by and a critical report from Admiral Kirkland H. Donald regarding the Minuteman incident.
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 Sylvanus Thayer Award is an honor given annually by the United States Military Academy at West Point to an individual whose character and accomplishments exemplifies the motto of West Point. The award is named after the 'Father of the Military Academy,' Colonel Sylvanus Thayer. The awardee is selected by, and the award is endowed by, a committee formed from the West Point Association of Graduates. It has been awarded annually since 1958 and is the closest recognition West Point has to granting an honorary degree.
John Holden Gibson II is an American businessman and government official. Gibson is the former Chief Management Officer of the United States Department of Defense. Prior to serving as CMO, Gibson served as the Deputy Chief Management Officer for the Defense Department from November 2017 to February 2018. He has been chief financial officer, chief operating officer, and managing director for several companies including a national consulting group. Gibson previously served as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Management Reform and as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force.
The Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (SAF/AQ) is a civilian position in the Department of the Air Force that is appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate. This position is established under Title 10 US Code Section 9016 and is one of five Assistant Secretary positions under the Secretary of the Air Force. The Assistant Secretary reports to the Secretary of the Air Force.
John L. "Jack" Hudson is a retired Lieutenant General in the U.S. Air Force. He was Commander, Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio (WPAFB). Hudson also served as a member of the Senior Executive Service as the Director of the National Museum of the United States Air Force at WPAFB from 2009 to 2018.
Frank Kendall III is an American engineer, lawyer, and executive who is the 26th United States Secretary of the Air Force. He has served in several senior positions in the US Department of Defense. He is a West Point graduate and retired as a LTC from the US Army Reserves. From 2012 to 2017 he served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics in the Obama administration.
William Scott Gould is a former United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
The United States Under Secretary of the Army is the second-highest ranking civilian official of the United States Department of the Army, serving directly under the United States Secretary of the Army. The Secretary and Under Secretary, together with two military officers, the Chief of Staff of the United States Army and the Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, constitute the senior leaders of the United States Army.
John W. Douglass is a retired Brigadier General, United States Air Force. He served as the United States Navy's Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1995 to 1998. In 2012, Douglass ran for election to the United States House of Representatives for Virginia's 5th congressional district as a Democrat, losing to incumbent congressman Robert Hurt.
Susan K. Mashiko is a retired United States Air Force major general who served as the Deputy Director, National Reconnaissance Office, Chantilly, Virginia. Her responsibilities include assisting the director and principal deputy director in managing the strategic and tactical operations of the NRO. Also, as the commander, Air Force Space Command Element, she manages all air force personnel and resources assigned to the NRO and serves as the senior adviser to the DNRO on all military matters. Mashiko is the first Japanese American woman to be promoted to flag rank.
Sue Carol Payton was United States Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Acquisition) from 2006 to 2010. She was born in Champaign, Illinois.
Gustave F. Perna is a retired United States Army four-star general who last served as the chief operating officer of the federal COVID-19 response for vaccine and therapeutics. He previously served as the chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed from July 2020 until the operation's duties and responsibilities were transferred to the White House COVID-19 Response Team in February 2021. As chief operating officer of COVID-19 response, he oversaw the logistics in the United States federal government's distribution of the vaccine to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Senate confirmed his nomination as chief operating officer on July 2, 2020, and he assumed the office shortly after.
Patrick Michael Shanahan is a former United States federal government official who served as acting U.S. Secretary of Defense in 2019. President Donald Trump appointed Shanahan to the role after the resignation of Retired General James N. Mattis. Shanahan served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from 2017 to 2019. He previously spent 30 years at Boeing in a variety of roles.
Ricky Lynn Waddell is a lieutenant general in the United States Army Reserve who serves as the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He served as a Deputy National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2018. His promotion to lieutenant general was authorized by the United States Senate on September 26, 2019.
