Mark Esper
American politician and manufacturing executive
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| 2023 | Joined the International Advisory Council of GLOBSEC, a European-based global think tank. |
| 2023 | Disclosed he was unaware of previous Chinese spy balloon incidents during the Trump administration after new intelligence was revealed about past surveillance balloon transits. |
| December 2023 | The Atlantic Council announced that Esper would be chairing a new commission on Software-Defined Warfare. |
| August 23 2023 | Taiwan Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng presented Esper with the 'Order of Resplendent Banner with Grand Cordon' in Taipei for his support of Taiwan's security. |
| May 20 2023 | Esper received the Military Hero Award from the PenFed Foundation at its annual gala in Washington, D.C. |
| March 22 2023 | The President of Lithuania awarded Esper the Cross of Commander of the Order for Merits to Lithuania in Vilnius. |
| 2022 | Esper received the Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute's 'Peace Through Strength' Award. |
| December 2022 | Publicly supported a merit-based immigration system in an interview. |
| September 2022 | Signed an open letter with other former defense officials criticizing the failure to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, indirectly critiquing Trump's actions surrounding the 2020 election. |
| May 2022 | Published his memoir 'A Sacred Oath', which details controversial interactions with President Trump during his time as Defense Secretary, including Trump's suggestions about military interventions and treatment of protesters. |
| April 2022 | Joined Red Cell Partners, a Washington-based venture capital firm, as a Partner and chairman of its national security practice, and became a member of the firm's board of directors. |
| February 2022 | The Army announced that 24 of the 35 modernization programs would be fielded as systems or prototypes in fiscal year 2023, reflecting the success of the modernization efforts initiated under Esper's leadership. |
| 2021 | Esper received the George C. Marshall Foundation's Andrew J. Goodpaster Award. |
| 2021 | Appointed co-chair of a commission tasked with making recommendations to the Pentagon on improving the Defense Department's ability to absorb commercial technologies for military capabilities. |
| 2021 | Esper was named the first John S. McCain Distinguished Fellow at the McCain Institute for International Leadership in Washington, D.C., and also joined the board of directors for the Atlantic Council. |
| November 2021 | Esper sued the Department of Defense to prevent censorship of his memoir, with the suit being dropped three months later after most DoD objections were withdrawn. |
| January 20 2021 | By the time of the Biden Administration's inauguration, nearly one million Americans were being vaccinated daily, a testament to the success of Operation Warp Speed. |
| January 2 2021 | Esper, along with other former Secretaries of Defense, published a Washington Post op-ed rebuking Trump's attempts to alter the election results and affirming the legitimacy of the election process. |
| 2020 | Approved the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, which included $738 billion in defense spending, and provided a framework for Congress to guide military installation naming. |
| December 2020 | The FDA approved both COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, facilitating rapid production and distribution of vaccines nationwide. |
| December 2020 | Established an internal Defense Board on Diversity and Inclusion in the Military to recommend ways to increase racial diversity and ensure equal opportunity across military ranks, with a focus on the officer corps. |
| November 2020 | Esper was dismissed from his position, potentially due to his engagement with Congressional defense committee leaders about base renaming provisions and his independent stance on Confederate symbols. |
| November 2020 | Operation Warp Speed successfully developed two COVID-19 vaccines with efficacy rates above 90%, demonstrating remarkable progress amid widespread skepticism about vaccine development timelines. |
| November 17 2020 | Trump directs reduction of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to 2,500 troops, eight days after Esper's departure. |
| November 9 2020 | Dismissed from the office of Defense Secretary by President Donald Trump via a Twitter posting. |
| November 9 2020 | Dismissed from the office of Secretary of Defense by President Donald Trump via a Twitter posting. |
| November 5 2020 | Esper wrote his resignation letter four days before the presidential election winner was determined. |
| October 2020 | Mark Esper, along with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, met with Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh to sign the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement on Geospatial Cooperation (BECA), enabling sensitive information and intelligence sharing between the United States and India after over a decade of discussions. |
| October 2020 | National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien and Trump discuss reducing troops to 2,500 and potentially bringing all troops home by Christmas. |
| July 2020 | Esper delivered a televised address to Department of Defense employees providing a one-year update on the progress of implementing the National Defense Strategy, reviewing his top ten objectives and departmental goals. |
| July 2020 | Esper issued a memo banning the display of all flags on Department of Defense installations except for the U.S. flag, flags of U.S. states, allied countries, and military units, which effectively prohibited the Confederate flag and other non-official flags. |
| July 9 2020 | Esper and Milley agreed to appear before the House Armed Services Committee to testify about the events surrounding the protests and potential military deployment. |
| June 2020 | Esper traveled to NATO headquarters in Brussels to privately meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, briefing him on troop movement plans and assuring consultation with allies. |
| June 2020 | At a press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Trump announced plans to move U.S. troops from Germany to Poland, which Esper supported, advocating for troop deployments to Baltic states, Poland, and Romania. |
| June 18 2020 | Esper publicly acknowledged the underrepresentation of minorities in military officer ranks and committed to addressing racial discrimination within the Defense Department. |
| June 6 2020 | The House Armed Services Committee invited Esper and Milley to testify about the June 1 events, which they initially declined. |
| June 1 2020 | Esper participated in a heated Oval Office meeting where Trump demanded deployment of 10,000 active-duty troops to U.S. cities. During a governors' call, Esper used the controversial phrase 'dominate the battlespace' when discussing protest responses. |
| June 1 2020 | Esper walked alongside Trump to a photo op at St. John's Episcopal Church after police cleared Lafayette Square of protesters using smoke grenades and chemical irritants. |
| May 2020 | Esper emphasizes a 'conditions-based' approach to Afghanistan troop withdrawal, refusing to commit to a strict timeline. |
| May 2020 | In response to nationwide racial unrest, Esper directed Pentagon leaders to develop ideas for improving equal opportunity, diversity, and inclusion in the Armed Forces. |
| May 2020 | At an event marking the 75th anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe, Esper briefly interacted with seven WWII veterans, a moment that sparked some controversy regarding COVID-19 precautions. |
| May 28 2020 | Mark Esper, along with General Mark Milley and Attorney General Bill Barr, privately discouraged President Trump from invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy military troops to Minneapolis following protests after George Floyd's murder. |
| May 15 2020 | Mark Esper co-led Operation Warp Speed, a national program to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine development, working with HHS Secretary Alex Azar in a public-private partnership to develop, produce, and distribute a COVID vaccine by the end of 2020. |
| April 14 2020 | Esper announced an extension of the travel freeze on military members and Department of Defense civilian employees, initially set for 60 days and later extended through June 30, 2020. |
| April 5 2020 | Esper issued Guidance on the Use of Cloth Face Coverings, making the Defense Department the first governmental agency to implement this action following CDC recommendations. |
| March 24 2020 | Esper held the first 'virtual town hall' for service members, Department of Defense employees, and their families to address the pandemic, introducing a phased approach to personnel movement and travel. |
| March 18 2020 | At a White House briefing, Esper announced the Army Corps of Engineers' plan to build Alternate Care Facilities, starting with the Javits Center in New York City, which would become the largest hospital in the country with 2,500 bed capacity. |
| February 2020 | Announced the reactivation of the V Corps, to be based at Fort Knox, Kentucky, with a forward headquarters established in Poland to improve command and control in Europe and support NATO allies against potential Russian threats. |
| February 2020 | Approved the first-ever AI Ethics Principles for the Department of Defense, positioning the United States as a global leader in responsible AI development and use. |
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