Mark Esper

Biography

Mark Esper was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1964. He graduated from West Point in 1986 and served as an infantry officer with the 101st Airborne Division in the Gulf War, later commanding an airborne rifle company in Europe. After more than ten years on active duty he moved to the National Guard and the Army Reserve, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He also earned a master's in public administration from Harvard's Kennedy School and a doctorate in public policy from George Washington University.

In Washington he was chief of staff at the Heritage Foundation, a senior staffer on Senate and House committees, and from 2002 to 2004 a deputy assistant secretary of defense for negotiations policy under George W. Bush. He then worked for the Senate majority leader, the Aerospace Industries Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce before joining the defence contractor Raytheon as vice president for government relations in 2010.

Donald Trump made him secretary of the Army in November 2017. After a period as acting secretary of defense he was confirmed to the post in July 2019. During the 2020 George Floyd protests he opposed using active-duty troops against protesters, and he helped lead Operation Warp Speed to develop COVID-19 vaccines. Trump dismissed him in November 2020, after the presidential election.