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. 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.

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. He later served in the 82nd Airborne Division and the Army National Guard. After leaving military service, he held several prominent roles, including chief of staff at the Heritage Foundation; a senior 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 served as vice president of government relations at defense contractor Raytheon.

In 2017, he joined the Trump administration as the 23rd secretary of the Army. 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 dismissed from the office by President Donald Trump in a Twitter posting on November 9, 2020 due to disagreements about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election.