Mark Esper
| Mark Esper | |
|---|---|
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United States Secretary of the Army Nominee |
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Taking office TBD* |
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| President | Donald Trump |
| Succeeding | Ryan McCarthy (Acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Republican |
| Education |
United States Military Academy (BS) Harvard University (MPA) George Washington University (PhD) |
| *Pending Senate confirmation | |
Mark Thomas Esper is an American corporate executive and former government official for the United States Department of Defense. He currently serves as Vice President of government relations at Raytheon.
On July 19, 2017, it was announced that President Donald Trump had the intention of nominating Esper to become U.S. Secretary of the Army.
Esper graduated from Laurel Highlands High School in 1982. He received his BS in engineering from the United States Military Academy in 1986. Esper was a Dean's List student at West Point and recipient of the Douglas MacArthur Award for Leadership. He received a Master's Degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard in 1995 and a PhD from George Washington University in 2008.
Esper served as an Infantry Officer with the 101st Airborne Division and deployed with the "Screaming Eagles" for the 1990-91 Gulf War. His battalion was part of the famous "left hook" that led to the defeat of the Iraqi Army. For his actions, Esper was awarded a Bronze Star, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, and various service medals. He later led an Airborne Rifle Company in Europe and served as an Army Fellow at the Pentagon. Esper was on active duty for over ten years before transitioning to the National Guard and Army Reserve, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Esper was chief of staff at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, from 1996-1998. From 1998 to 2002, Esper served as a senior professional staffer for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. He was also a senior policy advisor and legislative director for Senator Chuck Hagel. He was policy director for the House Armed Services Committee from 2001 to 2002. From 2002 to 2004, Esper served in the George W. Bush administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Negotiations Policy, where he was responsible for a broad range of nonproliferation, arms control, and international security issues. He was Director for National Security Affairs for the U.S. Senate under Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist from 2004 to 2006.
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