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Ash Carter
Official portrait, 2015
25th United States Secretary of Defense
In office
February 17, 2015 – January 20, 2017
PresidentBarack Obama
DeputyRobert O. Work
Preceded byChuck Hagel
Succeeded byJim Mattis
31st United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
In office
October 6, 2011 – December 4, 2013
PresidentBarack Obama
Secretary
Preceded byWilliam J. Lynn III
Succeeded byChristine Fox (acting)
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics
In office
April 27, 2009 – October 5, 2011
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byJohn J. Young Jr.
Succeeded byFrank Kendall III
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs
In office
June 30, 1993 – September 14, 1996
PresidentBill Clinton
Preceded byStephen Hadley
Succeeded byJack Dyer Crouch II (2001)
Personal details
BornAshton Baldwin Carter
(1954-09-24)September 24, 1954
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedOctober 24, 2022(2022-10-24) (aged 68)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
RelationsCynthia DeFelice (sister)
Children2
Education
Signature

Ashton Baldwin Carter (September 24, 1954 – October 24, 2022) was an American government official and academic who served as the 25th United States Secretary of Defense from February 2015 to January 2017. He later served as director of the Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School.

Carter began his career as a physicist. After a brief experience as an analyst for the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, he switched careers to public policy. He joined the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1984 and became chair of the International & Global Affairs faculty. Carter served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy during President Clinton's first term, from 1993 to 1996, responsible for policy regarding the former Soviet states, strategic affairs, and nuclear weapons.

During President Obama's first term, he served first as Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics and then Deputy Secretary of Defense until December 2013. In February 2015, he replaced Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense and served until the end of the Obama administration. A notable act during his tenure at the department was his end of the ban on transgender officers in the military, which remained in place for only a year before the Trump administration reinstated it. In 2016, Carter opened all military occupations and positions to women, without exception. This would mark the first time in U.S. history that women with the appropriate qualifications would be allowed to contribute to areas of the military, such as infantry, armor, reconnaissance, and some special operations units, that had previously been open only to men.

For his service to national security, Carter had on five occasions been awarded the DOD Distinguished Public Service Medal. He had also received the CJCS Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award, and the Defense Intelligence Medal for his contributions to intelligence. Carter was author or co-author of 11 books and more than 100 articles on physics, technology, national security, and management.

Early life

Ashton Baldwin Carter was born on September 24, 1954, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father is William Stanley Carter Jr., a World War II veteran, Navy neurologist and psychiatrist, and department chairman at Abington Memorial Hospital for 30 years. His mother is Anne Baldwin Carter, an English teacher. He has three siblings, including children's book author Cynthia DeFelice. As a child he was nicknamed Ash and Stoobie.

Carter was raised in Abington, Pennsylvania, on Wheatsheaf Lane. At age 11, working at his first job at a Philadelphia car wash, he was fired for "wise-mouthing the owner".

Education

Carter was educated at Highland Elementary School (class of 1966) and at Abington Senior High School (class of 1972) in Abington. In high school he was a wrestler, lacrosse player, cross-country runner, and president of the Honor Society. He was inducted into Abington Senior High School's Hall of Fame in 1989.

Carter attended the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 1975. In 1976, Carter completed his Bachelor of Arts in his double-major of physics and medieval history from Yale College, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. His senior thesis, "Quarks, Charm and the Psi Particle", was published in Yale Scientific in 1975. He was also an experimental research associate at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in 1975 (where he worked on quark research) and at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1976. Carter then became a Rhodes Scholar and studied at the University of Oxford. He received his DPhil in theoretical physics on Hard processes in perturbative QCD in 1979 and was supervised by Christopher Llewellyn Smith. He was a member of St John's College, Oxford.

Carter was subsequently a postdoctoral fellow research associate in theoretical physics at Rockefeller University from 1979 to 1980, studying time-reversal invariance and dynamical symmetry breaking. He coauthored two papers on CP violations in B meson decays with A. I. Sanda, which were used as one of theoretical basis to build B factories. Carter was then a research fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies from 1982 to 1984, during which time he wrote a public report assessing that the Reagan-proposed "Star Wars" initiative could not protect the U.S. from a Soviet nuclear attack.

Academic career

Carter taught at Harvard University, as an assistant professor from 1984 to 1986, associate professor from 1986 to 1988, professor and associate director of the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government from 1988 to 1990, and director of the center from 1990 to 1993. At the Kennedy School, he became chair of the International and Global Affairs faculty and Ford Foundation Professor of Science and International Affairs. He concurrently was co-director of the Preventive Defense Project of Harvard and Stanford Universities.

Early Department of Defense career

From left, Carter, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and President Barack Obama in 2012
Carter arrives in Herat, Afghanistan, in 2013.

From 1993 to 1996, Carter served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy during President Bill Clinton's first term. He was responsible for strategic affairs, including dealing with the threat of weapons of mass destruction elsewhere in the world, nuclear weapons policy (including overseeing the U.S. nuclear arsenal and missile defenses), the 1994 Nuclear Posture Review, the Agreed Framework signed in 1994 which froze North Korea's plutonium-producing nuclear reactor program, the 1995 extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the negotiation of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and the multibillion-dollar Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program and Project Sapphire that removed all nuclear weapons from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. Carter directed military planning during the 1994 crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons program. He was also responsible for dealing with the establishment of defense and intelligence relationships with former Soviet countries in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union and its nuclear arsenal, and was chairman of NATO's High Level Group. He was also responsible for the Counter proliferation Initiative, control of sensitive U.S. exports, and negotiations that led to the deployment of Russian troops as part of the Bosnia Peace Plan Implementation Force.

From April 2009 to October 2011, Carter was Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, with responsibility for DOD's procurement reform and innovation agenda and completion of procurements such as the KC-46 tanker. He also led the development and production of thousands of mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles, and other acquisitions. He instituted "Better Buying Power," seeking smarter and leaner purchasing. From October 2011 to December 2013, Carter was Deputy Secretary of Defense, serving as the DOD's chief operating officer, overseeing the department's annual budget and its three million civilian and military personnel, steering strategy and budget through sequester, and directing the reform of DOD's national security export controls. He was confirmed by Senate voice vote for both positions.

In an April 4, 2013, speech, he affirmed that the 'Shift to Asia' initiative of President Obama was a priority that would not be affected by the budget sequestration in 2013. Carter noted that The Shift to Asia is principally an economic matter with new security implications. India, Australia, and New Zealand were mentioned as forthcoming security partners. His Pentagon arms-control responsibilities included matters involving the START II, ABM, CFE, and other arms-control treaties.

Secretary of Defense

Carter's official portrait

Carter was nominated by President Barack Obama to be the 25th United States secretary of defense on December 5, 2014.

In his nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he said he was "very much inclined" to increase U.S. military aid to Ukraine. Speaking on the Middle East, he said the U.S. must militarily ensure a "lasting defeat" of Islamic State (ISIL) forces in Iraq and Syria. He said he was not in favor of increasing the rate of prisoner releases from Guantanamo Bay. He also opined that the threats posed by Iran were as serious as those posed by the ISIL forces.

Carter was approved unanimously on February 1, 2015, by the Senate Armed Services Committee. He was confirmed by the Senate on February 12 by a vote of 93–5 and sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden on February 17.

Vice President Joe Biden swears in Ash Carter as the 25th defense secretary as Carter's wife, Stephanie, looks on during a private ceremony at the White House.

In May 2015, Carter warned the People's Republic of China to halt its rapid island-building in the South China Sea.

In October 2015, Carter condemned Russian air strikes against ISIL and other rebel groups in Syria. On October 8, 2015, Carter, speaking at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels, said he believed Russia would soon start paying the price for its military intervention in Syria in the form of reprisal attacks and casualties.

A controversy arose in December 2015 when it was revealed that Carter had used a personal email account when conducting official business as Secretary of Defense.

In January 2016, at Carter's direction, the Department of Defense opened all military roles to women, overriding a request by the Marine Corps to continue to exempt women from certain positions. In June 2016, Carter announced that transgender individuals would be allowed to join and openly serve in the military.

Other roles

From 1990 to 1993, Carter was chairman of the Editorial Board of International Security. Previously, he held positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and Rockefeller University.

In 1997, Carter and former CIA Director John M. Deutch co-chaired the Catastrophic Terrorism Study Group which urged greater attention to terrorism. In 1998 Carter, Deutch, and Philip Zelikow (later executive director of the 9/11 Commission) published an article on "catastrophic terrorism" in Foreign Affairs. From 1998 to 2000, he was deputy to William J. Perry at the North Korea Policy Review and traveled with him to Pyongyang. In 2001–02, he served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism, and advised on the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Carter was also co-director of the Preventive Defense Project, which designs and promotes security policies aimed at preventing the emergence of major new threats to the United States.

Carter had been a longtime member of the Defense Science Board and the Defense Policy Board, the principal advisory bodies to the Secretary of Defense. During the Bush administration, he was also a member of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's International Security Advisory Board; co-chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Policy Advisory Group; a consultant to the Defense Science Board; a member of the National Missile Defense White Team, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on International Security and Arms Control. He had testified frequently before the armed services, foreign relations, and homeland security committees of both houses of Congress.

In addition to his public service, Carter was a senior partner at Global Technology Partners, focused on advising investment firms in technology and defense. He was a consultant to Goldman Sachs and Mitretek Systems on international affairs and technology matters, and spoke frequently to business and policy audiences. Carter served as an independent director on the General Electric board of directors from 2020 until his death.

He was also a member of the boards of directors of the Mitre Corporation and Mitretek Systems and the advisory boards of MIT Lincoln Laboratory and Draper Laboratory. Carter was also a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Physical Society, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. Carter was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was named as a Fellow in the American Physical Society (Forum on Physics & Society) in 2015.

Carter also served as an honorary director on the board of directors at the Atlantic Council. In April 2021, Carter joined Tanium Board of Directors. From 2021, he had been a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). In 2021, Carter joined Shield Capital's board of Strategic Advisors.

  • Carter at the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea Carter at the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea
  • Carter, William Perry and former secretary of state George Shultz, October 12, 2012 Carter, William Perry and former secretary of state George Shultz, October 12, 2012
  • Carter meeting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, July 21, 2015 Carter meeting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, July 21, 2015

Positions

Views on Iran

Carter's views on Iran had been perceived as hawkish. In 2006, he authored a report for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace advocating use or threat of force to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Carter had supported diplomacy with Iran and written about methods of containing a nuclear-armed Tehran.

Support for military interventions

Carter meeting with Mohammed bin Salman and his advisor Ahmad Asiri in 2016
Carter departing from the Pentagon on his last day in office

Carter was a supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as well as an advocate of "preventative" invasions of North Korea and Iran. In response to increase in tension in Ukraine, Carter considered proposing deployment of ground-launched cruise missiles in Europe that could pre-emptively destroy Russian weapons.

Personal life

Carter was married to Stephanie DeLeeuw Carter. He had been previously married to the eighth president of Bates College, Clayton Spencer, with whom he had two children, Ava and Will.

Carter died from a heart attack at his home in Boston on October 24, 2022, at age 68.

Awards

Carter received the Ten Outstanding Young Americans award from the United States Junior Chamber in 1987. For his service to national security, Carter was awarded the DOD's highest civilian medal, the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, five times. For critical liaison efforts with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the geographic combatant commanders, he was awarded the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award in 2013. He also received the Defense Intelligence Medal for his contributions to intelligence.

Works

In addition to authoring numerous articles, scientific publications, government studies, and Congressional testimonies, Carter co-edited and co-authored 11 books:

References

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  2. "Ash Carter | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs". Belfer Center. December 18, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
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  55. "GE Nominates Ashton Carter to the Board of Directors | GE News". www.ge.com. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  56. "Board of Directors". Atlantic Council. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  57. "Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter Joins Tanium Board of Directors". Tanium. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  58. "President Biden Announces Members of President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology". whitehouse.gov. September 22, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  59. "Senior Advisor". Shield Capital. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
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  63. "Another victory for Bush Archived December 11, 2015, at the Wayback Machine". The Baltimore Sun. December 24, 2003
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  67. Risen, Clay (October 26, 2022). "Ashton B. Carter, 68, Who Made the Military More Inclusive, Is Dead". The New York Times. p. A23. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
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External links

Political offices
Preceded byStephen Hadley Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs
1993–1996
VacantTitle next held byJack Dyer Crouch II
Preceded byJohn Young Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics
2009–2011
Succeeded byFrank Kendall
Preceded byWilliam J. Lynn III United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
2011–2013
Succeeded byRobert O. Work
Preceded byChuck Hagel United States Secretary of Defense
2015–2017
Succeeded byJim Mattis
United States Deputy Secretaries of Defense
United States secretaries of defense
Cabinet of President Barack Obama (2009–2017)
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* took office in 2009, raised to cabinet-rank in 2012
See also: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet
Obama administration personnel
Cabinet and cabinet-level
Office Name Term Office Name Term
Secretary of State John Kerry 2013–2017 Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew 2013–2017
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter 2015–2017 Attorney General Loretta Lynch 2015–2017
Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell 2013–2017 Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack 2009–2017
Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker 2013–2017 Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez 2013–2017
Secretary of Health and
  Human Services
Sylvia Mathews Burwell 2014–2017 Secretary of Education
Secretary of Transportation
John King Jr.
Anthony Foxx
2016–2017
2013–2017
Secretary of Housing and Urban
  Development
Julian Castro 2014–2017 Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert A. McDonald 2014–2017
Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz 2013–2017 Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson 2013–2017
Vice President Joe Biden 2009–2017 White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough 2013–2017
Director of the Office of Management and
  Budget
Shaun Donovan 2014–2017 Administrator of the Environmental
  Protection Agency
Gina McCarthy 2013–2017
Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power 2013–2017 Chair of the Council of Economic
  Advisers
Jason Furman 2013–2017
Trade Representative Michael Froman 2013–2017 Administrator of the Small Business Administration Maria Contreras-Sweet 2014–2017
Below solid line: Granted Cabinet rank although not automatically part of the Cabinet. See also: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet
Executive Office of the President
Office Name Term Office Name Term
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel 2009–10 National Security Advisor James L. Jones 2009–10
Pete Rouse 2010–11 Thomas E. Donilon 2010–13
William M. Daley 2011–12 Susan Rice 2013–17
Jack Lew 2012–13 Deputy National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon 2009–10
Denis McDonough 2013–17 Denis McDonough 2010–13
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Mona Sutphen 2009–11 Antony Blinken 2013–14
Nancy-Ann DeParle 2011–13 Avril Haines 2015–17
Rob Nabors 2013–15 Dep. National Security Advisor, Homeland Security John O. Brennan 2009–13
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Jim Messina 2009–11 Lisa Monaco 2013–17
Alyssa Mastromonaco 2011–14 Dep. National Security Advisor, Iraq and Afghanistan Douglas Lute 2009–13
Anita Decker Breckenridge 2014–17 Dep. National Security Advisor, Strategic Comm. Ben Rhodes 2009–17
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning Mark B. Childress 2012–14 Dep. National Security Advisor, Chief of Staff Mark Lippert 2009
Kristie Canegallo 2014–17 Denis McDonough 2009–10
Counselor to the President Pete Rouse 2011–13 Brooke D. Anderson 2011–12
John Podesta 2014–15 White House Communications Director Ellen Moran 2009
Senior Advisor to the President David Axelrod 2009–11 Anita Dunn 2009
David Plouffe 2011–13 Daniel Pfeiffer 2009–13
Daniel Pfeiffer 2013–15 Jennifer Palmieri 2013–15
Shailagh Murray 2015–17 Jen Psaki 2015–17
Senior Advisor to the President Pete Rouse 2009–10 Deputy White House Communications Director Jen Psaki 2009–11
Brian Deese 2015–17 Jennifer Palmieri 2011–14
Senior Advisor to the President and Valerie Jarrett 2009–17 Amy Brundage 2014–16
Assistant to the President for Liz Allen 2016–17
Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs 2009–11
Director, Public Engagement Tina Tchen 2009–11 Jay Carney 2011–13
Jon Carson 2011–13 Josh Earnest 2013–17
Paulette L. Aniskoff 2013–17 Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton 2009–11
Director, Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Muñoz 2009–12 Josh Earnest 2011–13
David Agnew 2012–14 Eric Schultz 2014–17
Jerry Abramson 2014–17 Director of Special Projects Stephanie Cutter 2010–11
Director, National Economic Council Lawrence Summers 2009–10 Director, Speechwriting Jon Favreau 2009–13
Gene Sperling 2011–14 Cody Keenan 2013–17
Jeff Zients 2014–17 Director, Digital Strategy Macon Phillips 2009–13
Chair, Council of Economic Advisers Christina Romer 2009–10 Chief Digital Officer Jason Goldman 2015–17
Austan Goolsbee 2010–13 Director, Legislative Affairs Phil Schiliro 2009–11
Jason Furman 2013–17 Rob Nabors 2011–13
Chair, Economic Recovery Advisory Board Paul Volcker 2009–11 Katie Beirne Fallon 2013–16
Chair, Council on Jobs and Competitiveness Jeff Immelt 2011–13 Miguel Rodriguez 2016
Director, Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes 2009–12 Amy Rosenbaum 2016–17
Cecilia Muñoz 2012–17 Director, Political Affairs Patrick Gaspard 2009–11
Director, Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Joshua DuBois 2009–13 David Simas 2011–16
Melissa Rogers 2013–17 Director, Presidential Personnel Nancy Hogan 2009–13
Director, Office of Health Reform Nancy-Ann DeParle 2009–11 Johnathan D. McBride 2013–14
Director, Office of National AIDS Policy Jeffrey Crowley 2009–11 Valerie E. Green 2014–15
Grant N. Colfax 2011–13 Rodin A. Mehrbani 2016–17
Douglas M. Brooks 2013–17 White House Staff Secretary Lisa Brown 2009–11
Director, Office of Urban Affairs Adolfo Carrión Jr. 2009–10 Rajesh De 2011–12
Racquel S. Russell 2010–14 Douglas Kramer 2012–13
Roy Austin Jr. 2014–17 Joani Walsh 2014–17
Director, Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy Carol Browner 2009–11 Director, Management and Administration Bradley J. Kiley 2009–11
White House Counsel Greg Craig 2009–10 Katy A. Kale 2011–15
Bob Bauer 2010–11 Maju Varghese 2015–17
Kathryn Ruemmler 2011–14 Director, Scheduling and Advance Alyssa Mastromonaco 2009–11
Neil Eggleston 2014–17 Danielle Crutchfield 2011–14
White House Cabinet Secretary Chris Lu 2009–13 Chase Cushman 2014–17
Danielle C. Gray 2013–14 Director, White House Information Technology David Recordon 2015–17
Broderick D. Johnson 2014–17 Director, Office of Administration Cameron Moody 2009–11
Personal Aide to the President Reggie Love 2009–11 Beth Jones 2011–15
Brian Mosteller 2011–12 Cathy Solomon 2015–17
Marvin D. Nicholson 2012–17 Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy John Holdren 2009–17
Director, Oval Office Operations Brian Mosteller 2012–17 Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra 2009–12
Personal Secretary to the President Katie Johnson 2009–11 Todd Park 2012–14
Anita Decker Breckenridge 2011–14 Megan Smith 2014–17
Ferial Govashiri 2014–17 Director, Office of Management and Budget Peter R. Orszag 2009–10
Chief of Staff to the First Lady Jackie Norris 2009 Jack Lew 2010–12
Susan Sher 2009–11 Jeff Zients 2012–13
Tina Tchen 2011–17 Sylvia Mathews Burwell 2013–14
White House Social Secretary Desirée Rogers 2009–10 Brian Deese 2014
Julianna Smoot 2010–11 Shaun Donovan 2014–17
Jeremy Bernard 2011–15 Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra 2009–11
Deesha Dyer 2015–17 Steven VanRoekel 2011–14
Chief of Staff to the Vice President Ron Klain 2009–11 Tony Scott 2015–17
Bruce Reed 2011–13 United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk 2009–13
Steve Ricchetti 2013–17 Michael Froman 2013–17
White House Chief Usher Stephen W. Rochon 2009–11 Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske 2009–14
Angella Reid 2011–17 Michael Botticelli 2014–17
Director, White House Military Office George Mulligan 2009–13 Chair, Council on Environmental Quality Nancy Sutley 2009–14
Emmett Beliveau 2013–15 Michael Boots 2014–15
Dabney Kern 2016–17 Christy Goldfuss 2015–17
† Remained from previous administration.
Office of the Vice President
Position Appointee
Chief of Staff to the Vice President Steve Ricchetti
Counsel to the Vice President Cynthia Hogan
Counselor to the Vice President Mike Donilon
Assistant to the Vice President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison Evan Ryan
Assistant to the Vice President and Director of Communications Shailagh Murray
Deputy Chief of Staff to the Vice President Shailagh Murray
Deputy National Security Adviser to the Vice President Brian P. McKeon
Residence Manager and Social Secretary for the Vice President and Second Lady Carlos Elizondo
National Security Adviser to the Vice President Colin Kahl
Position Appointee
Chief of Staff to the Second Lady Catherine M. Russell
Director of Administration for the Office of the Vice President Moises Vela
Domestic Policy Adviser to the Vice President Terrell McSweeny
Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser to the Vice President Jared Bernstein
Press Secretary to the Vice President Elizabeth Alexander
Deputy Press Secretary to the Vice President Annie Tomasini
Director of Legislative Affairs Sudafi Henry
Director of Communications for the Second Lady Courtney O’Donnell
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