The Secretary of the Navy is a statutory officer and the head of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense.
The secretary of the Army is a senior civilian official within the Department of Defense of the United States with statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, installations, environmental issues, weapons systems and equipment acquisition, communications, and financial management.
Romer Leslie "Les" Brownlee served as the Undersecretary of the Army from November 2001 to May 2003 and as Acting United States Secretary of the Army from 10 May 2003 until his resignation effective 2 December 2004, staying at the Undersecretary's office. Bill Gertz wrote that Donald Rumsfeld did not wish to name a non-CEO to the job of Secretary.
John Charles Rood is an American former national security policymaker and government official who served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from January 2018 to February 2020. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President of Lockheed Martin where he oversaw international business. He also served as Vice President for Domestic Business Development at Lockheed Martin and he was a Vice President at the Raytheon Company.
James Edwin McPherson is a retired United States Navy rear admiral and government official. He has served as the Acting United States Under Secretary of the Army since July 23, 2019, and was sworn into the position full-time on March 25, 2020 following confirmation by the Senate. He concurrently served as the General Counsel of the Army from 2018 to 2020. He was designated as Acting United States Secretary of the Navy on April 7, 2020, following the resignation of Thomas Modly.
Robert Leon Wilkie Jr. is an American lawyer and government official serving as the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He was confirmed on July 23, 2018 by the United States Senate. The confirmation vote in the Senate was 86–9. He was sworn in on July 30, 2018.
Joseph Francis Dunford Jr. is a retired United States Marine Corps general, who served as the 19th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 1, 2015 until September 30, 2019. He was the 36th Commandant of the Marine Corps. Dunford is the first Marine Corps officer to serve in four different four-star positions; the others include commander of the International Security Assistance Force and United States Forces – Afghanistan from February 2013 until August 2014, and as the 32nd Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps from October 23, 2010, to December 15, 2012. He has commanded several units, including the 5th Marine Regiment during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
John W. Shannon was United States Under Secretary of the Army from 1989 to 1993.
David Peter Pekoske is an American government official and retired U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral who currently serves as the seventh Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration. He also served as acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security from April to November 2019. He concluded his 33 years of active military service in 2010 as the 26th Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard.
René Clarke Cooper is an American diplomat and the current Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs. On June 28, 2018, Donald Trump nominated Cooper to be Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs. He was confirmed by the Senate on April 30, 2019 and assumed office on May 2, 2019.
Eric Kenneth Fanning is an American politician and businessman who is the current President and CEO of Aerospace Industries Association and served as the 22nd United States Secretary of the Army, holding office from May 18, 2016 to January 20, 2017. Prior to his appointment as Secretary of the Army, Fanning was the 24th United States Under Secretary of the Air Force. He was the first openly gay head of any service in the U.S. military.
This article lists the members of President Donald Trump's Cabinet. Trump assumed office on January 20, 2017 and 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.
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.
Richard Vaughn Spencer is an American politician and businessman who served as the 76th United States Secretary of the Navy from August 3, 2017, to November 24, 2019. While serving as Secretary of the Navy, he also briefly served as Acting United States Secretary of Defense and Acting United States Deputy Secretary of Defense. Spencer served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1976 to 1981 as a Marine Aviator and also served as Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer of Intercontinental Exchange from November 2001 to January 2008. Spencer served as Secretary of the Navy from August 3, 2017, to November 24, 2019, when Secretary of Defense Mark Esper requested his resignation over his handling of the Eddie Gallagher case. Spencer was displeased that the White House interfered and pressured him to let Gallagher retire as a Navy SEAL.
David L. Norquist is an American financial management professional and government official presently serving as the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense.
Ryan Dean Newman is an American lawyer and former United States Army Captain. He currently serves as the deputy general counsel for the United States Department of Defense legal counsel. Prior to his current post, he was the acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy. In March 2017, he was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as General Counsel of the Army. The nomination was withdrawn in September 2017.
Claire M. Grady is a former American government official who served in areas of national defense and security procurement. She served as the Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Management, as well as the acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security from August 2017 until April 2019. Prior to assuming her the role, she served as director of defense procurement and acquisition policy at the United States Department of Defense. In her previous capacity in the U.S. Department of Defense, Grady was a member of the Defense Acquisition Board.
Mark Thomas Esper is the 27th and current United States secretary of defense, and a former U.S. Army officer and defense contractor lobbyist. He previously served as acting secretary of defense and was the 23rd United States secretary of the Army from 2017 to 2019. President Donald Trump announced on June 18, 2019, that Esper would become acting secretary of defense, succeeding acting secretary Patrick Shanahan. Before Shanahan withdrew his name from consideration for the position, Esper had been considered a leading candidate for the nomination, had the Senate declined to confirm Shanahan. Esper assumed the office of acting secretary on June 24, and was confirmed as 27th secretary of defense by the United States Senate with a vote of 90–8 on July 23, 2019.
James Michael Byrne is an American lawyer who served as the United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs from September 2019 to February 2020. He previously served as the general counsel for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
Thomas B. Modly is an American businessman and government official who served as acting United States Secretary of the Navy from November 25, 2019 to April 7, 2020. Modly's resignation occurred in the wake of firing and berating Brett Crozier, the captain of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, for allegedly going outside his chain of command in calling for help to deal with a COVID-19 outbreak onboard. Later, Modly traveled to the ship at port in Guam, where he addressed the crew in a manner that was perceived as disrespectful. He was subsequently widely criticized, and soon resigned.
