David Norquist

David L. Norquist (born November 24, 1966)[3] is an American financial management professional and government official presently serving as the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense.

David Norquist
34th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
Incumbent
Assumed office July 31, 2019
President	Donald Trump
Secretary	Mark Esper
Preceded by	Patrick M. Shanahan
In office Acting: January 1, 2019 – July 23, 2019
Secretary	Patrick M. Shanahan (acting) Mark Esper (acting) Richard V. Spencer (acting)
Preceded by	Patrick M. Shanahan
Succeeded by	Richard V. Spencer (acting)
United States Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)
In office June 2, 2017 – July 31, 2019
President	Donald Trump
Secretary	Jim Mattis Patrick M. Shanahan (acting) Mark Esper (acting) Richard V. Spencer (acting) Mark Esper
Preceded by	John P. Roth (acting)
Succeeded by	Elaine McCusker (acting)
Chief Financial Officer of the United States Department of Homeland Security
In office June 1, 2006 – December 1, 2008
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Andrew Maner[1]
Succeeded by	Margaret Sherry[2]
Personal details
Born	(1966-11-24) November 24, 1966 Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Stephanie
Children	3
Relatives	Grover Norquist (brother)
Education	University of Michigan (BA, MPP) Georgetown University (MA)

Education

Norquist graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in Public Policy in 1989. In 1995, he received a Masters in National Security Studies from Georgetown University.[4]

Career

Norquist began his career in 1989 as a Presidential Management Fellow and GS-9 Program Budget Analyst, a federal civil servant position for the Department of the Army, and served in that position for four years.[4][5] From 1993 to 1995, he was a budget analyst in the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command.[4] Norquist was Director of Resource Management at Menwith Hill Station in Harrogate, United Kingdom for the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command from 1995–1996.[4] For six years, between 1997 and 2002, Norquist worked as a staffer on the Subcommittee on Defense for the House Appropriations Committee.[6] Between 2002 and 2006, he was Deputy Undersecretary of Defense in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Comptroller of the Department of Defense.[4][5]

In 2006, Norquist was selected by President George W. Bush to be Chief Financial Officer at the Department of Homeland Security. He served in this position from June 1, 2006 to December 1, 2008.[7][8] As the first person to be confirmed by the Senate for that position, he took steps to address widespread problems with DHS's financial statements.[9]

In 2008, Norquist joined Kearney and Company, a certified public accounting firm, as a partner.[10]

On March 20, 2017, President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Norquist to be Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer in the Department of Defense.[5] He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 25, 2017 by unanimous consent[11] and began serving on June 2, 2017.[12] As Comptroller, he oversaw DoD's first-ever department-wide audit of $2.7 trillion in assets, which involved over 1,000 outside auditors and discovered "major flaws" but no "major cases of fraud or abuse."[13]

Deputy Secretary of Defense

Following the December 2018 resignation of Jim Mattis as secretary of defense, deputy secretary Patrick Shanahan was made the acting secretary of defense and Norquist was made acting deputy secretary.[14] He served as acting deputy for several months before being formally nominated for the position. After Shanahan suddenly resigned on June 18, 2019, President Trump announced his intention to nominate Army secretary Mark Esper to be defense secretary.[15] On June 21, the president announced his intention to nominate Norquist to be deputy secretary. He nomination was sent to the Senate on July 23 and he was confirmed by voice vote on July 30, 2019, after having acted in the role for nearly seven months.[16]

Norquist has pledged to shake-up the defense budget and to place a high priority on funding research and development of cutting edge technologies such as hypersonics and artificial intelligence.[17] On August 2, 2019, he signed a memo to department leaders ordering a comprehensive, "zero-based" program and budget review for 2021 to 2025.[18]

Personal life

Norquist and his wife, Stephanie, have three children.[4] He is the younger brother of Grover Norquist,[19] founder of Americans for Tax Reform.

Publications

• "The Defense Budget. Is It Transformational?", Joint Force Quarterly (National Defense University publication), Summer 2002.

References

1. "PN1176 - Nomination of David L. Norquist for Department of Homeland Security, 109th Congress (2005-2006)". www.congress.gov. May 26, 2006. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
2. "PN1125 - Nomination of Margaret Ann Sherry for Department of Homeland Security, 112th Congress (2011-2012)". www.congress.gov. March 29, 2012. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
3. https://dod.defense.gov/About/Biographies/Biography-View/Article/1289725/david-l-norquist/
4. "Nomination of David L. Norquist". www.congress.gov. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
5. "Trump to Nominate Kearney & Co. Partner David Norquist as DoD Comptroller". Executive Gov. Archived from the original on April 12, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
6. "Trump just nominated several people for top Pentagon jobs". Business Insider. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
7. "David Norquist - C-SPAN.org". www.c-span.org. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
8. "Department of Homeland Security Purchase Cards: Credit Without Accountability". www.gpo.gov. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
9. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Key Administration Posts" (Press release). White House. March 16, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
10. "Trump Picks Boeing Executive Shanahan to Become Pentagon's No. 2". Fox Business. March 3, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
11. Mehta, Aaron; Gould, Joe (May 25, 2017). "Senate confirms three appointees to Pentagon". Defense News. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
12. "Department of Defense Key Officials September 1947–February 2019" (PDF). history.defense.gov. Historical Office Office of the Secretary of Defense. January 30, 2019. pp. 9, 10, 13, and 41. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
13. Mehta, Aaron (November 16, 2018). "Here's what the Pentagon's first-ever audit found". Defense News. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
14. Mehta, Aaron (January 2, 2019). "Pentagon comptroller to serve as acting deputy defense secretary". Defense News. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
15. Shear, Michael D.; Cooper, Helene (June 18, 2019). "Shanahan Withdraws as Defense Secretary Nominee, and Mark Esper Is Named Acting Pentagon Chief". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
16. Senate Considers Norquist for DOD Deputy
17. McLeary, Paul. "Norquist Pledges To Shakeup Budget; Sharp Eye On R & D". Breaking Defense. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
18. "Pentagon undergoing defense-wide review for inefficiencies". Federal News Network. August 9, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
19. "New homeland CFO faces tough challenge". UPI. Retrieved April 10, 2017.

External links

• Media related to David L. Norquist at Wikimedia Commons
• Appearances on C-SPAN

Political offices
Preceded by Patrick M. Shanahan	United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Acting 2019	Succeeded by Richard V. Spencer Acting
Preceded by Richard V. Spencer Acting	United States Deputy Secretary of Defense 2019–present	Incumbent