Mark Esper

Mark Thomas Esper (born April 26, 1964) is an American politician and manufacturing executive who served as the 27th United States secretary of defense from 2019 to 2020.

Esper was born on April 26, 1964, in Uniontown, Pennsylvania as the son of Pauline "Polly" Reagan and Thomas Joseph Esper.

His father was a member of the Maronite Church.

His paternal grandfather was an immigrant from Lebanon, and his uncle was war journalist George Esper.

Esper subsequently served in the 82nd Airborne Division and the Army National Guard.

After leaving military service, he served as chief of staff at the Heritage Foundation; a congressional staffer; a deputy assistant secretary of defense; and a senior executive for the Aerospace Industries Association, the Global Intellectual Property Center, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Immediately before joining the Trump administration, Esper lobbied for defense contractor Raytheon as its vice president of government relations.

Esper graduated from Laurel Highlands High School outside Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1982.

He received his Bachelor of Science in engineering from the United States Military Academy in 1986.

Esper was a dean's list student at West Point and received the Douglas MacArthur Award for Leadership.

He received a master's degree in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School in 1995 and a doctorate in public policy from George Washington University in 2008.

Esper was chief of staff at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, from 1996 to 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 U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel.

He was policy director for the House Armed Services Committee from 2001 to 2002.

From 2002 to 2004, Esper served in George W. Bush's 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 Majority Leader Bill Frist from 2004 to 2006.Esper was executive vice president at the Aerospace Industries Association in 2006 and 2007.

From September 2007 to February 2008, Esper served as national policy director to U.S. Senator Fred Thompson in his 2008 presidential campaign.

During that same period, Esper was a Senate-appointed commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

From 2008 to 2010, Esper served as executive vice president of the Global Intellectual Property Center and vice president for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

A West Point graduate, Esper joined the United States Army and saw combat during the Gulf War as an infantry officer with the 101st Airborne Division.

Esper served as an infantry officer with the 101st Airborne Division and deployed with the "Screaming Eagles" for the Gulf War.

His battalion was part of the famous "Hail Mary" deep into southern Iraq that helped lead to the defeat of the Iraqi Army.

He later commanded an airborne rifle company in Europe and served as an Army fellow at the Pentagon.

Esper served on active duty for more than ten years before moving to the Army National Guard and later the Army Reserve, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

According to his memoir and personal website, Esper is Ranger, Airborne, Air Assault, Jumpmaster, and Pathfinder qualified, and completed Army courses ranging from Jungle Expert in Panama to the Command & General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Esper is a two-time recipient of the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.

Among his military awards and decorations are the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Kuwait Liberation Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

He was hired as vice president of government relations at defense contractor Raytheon in July 2010.

Esper was recognized as a top corporate lobbyist by The Hill in 2015 and 2016.

Esper's departure from Raytheon included a deferred compensation package after 2022.

A member of the Republican Party, he had previously served as the 23rd U.S. secretary of the Army from November 2017 to July 2019.

In 2017, he joined the Trump administration as the 23rd secretary of the Army.

President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Esper as Secretary of the Army on June 19, 2017.

He was Trump's third nominee for the position, following the withdrawals of Vincent Viola and Mark E. Green.

He was confirmed to this post by an 89–6 vote of the U.S. Senate on November 15, 2017 and sworn in on November 20, 2017.

During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee in November 2017, Esper said that he would have three priorities as Army secretary: readiness, modernization (including of the military acquisition process and personnel system), and efficiency.

He identified taking care of Soldiers, their families, and Department of the Army civilians as an enduring priority.

In 2019, Esper was named acting defense secretary; he was confirmed shortly afterwards as the 27th defense secretary by the United States Senate with a vote of 90–8.

He was fired by President Donald Trump by tweet on November 9, 2020.