Robert Wilkie

Robert Leon Wilkie Jr. (born August 2, 1962)[1] is an American lawyer and government official serving as the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He was confirmed on July 23, 2018 by the United States Senate.[2] The confirmation vote in the Senate was 86–9.[3] He was sworn in on July 30, 2018.[4]

Robert Wilkie
10th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Assumed office
July 30, 2018
PresidentDonald Trump
DeputyJames Byrne
Pamela J. Powers (acting)
Preceded byDavid Shulkin
In office
Acting: March 28, 2018 – May 29, 2018
PresidentDonald Trump
DeputyThomas G. Bowman
Preceded byDavid Shulkin
Succeeded byPeter O'Rourke (acting)
8th Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
In office
November 30, 2017 – July 30, 2018
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byJessica L. Wright
Succeeded byMatthew Donovan
25th Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs
In office
September 30, 2006 – January 19, 2009
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byDan Stanley
Succeeded byElizabeth King
Personal details
Born
Robert Leon Wilkie Jr.

(1962-08-06) August 6, 1962
Frankfurt, West Germany
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Julia Wilkie
EducationWake Forest University (BA)
Loyola University New Orleans (JD)
Georgetown University (LLM)
United States Army War College (MS)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Navy
 United States Air Force

Prior to becoming the VA Secretary, Wilkie served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness from November 30, 2017 to July 30, 2018.[5] An intelligence officer in the United States Naval Reserve, he was previously nominated for a Department of Defense position by President George W. Bush on June 20, 2006, and his appointment was approved by the Senate on September 30, 2006.

Early life and education

Wilkie was born in Frankfurt, West Germany, and attended Salisbury Cathedral School in England, and Reid Ross High School in Fayetteville, North Carolina.[6] The son of a career Army officer, he grew up in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He is married to Julia Wilkie, whom he has known since childhood.[7]

Wilkie received his B.A. degree from Wake Forest University in North Carolina. He received a J.D. degree from Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans in 1988 and an LL.M. degree in International and Comparative Law from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.

Career
Department of Defense portrait
Wilkie watches as President Trump signs The Veterans Treatment Court Improvement Act of 2018.

Wilkie began his professional career on Capitol Hill as Counsel to Senator Jesse Helms, and later served as legislative director for Representative David Funderburk.[8][9] He was assigned to the Committee on International Relations and the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. In 1997, he began service as counsel and advisor on international security affairs to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, remaining in that office until 2003.[9]

From 2003 to 2005, in the Bush administration, Wilkie was special assistant to the President for national security affairs and a senior director of the National Security Council, where he was a senior policy advisor to then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice as well as her successor, Stephen Hadley. Wilkie developed strategic planning for the implementation of the Moscow Treaty, the Millennium Challenge Account, Iraqi Reconstruction and NATO Expansion.[10] In 2009, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates awarded him the Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest civilian award of the Department.[11]

In 2007, while serving as assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs, Wilkie authored a memo outlining guidelines that restricted congressional testimony to high-ranking officers and civilians appointed by the president. Critics of the guidelines argued that they could impede investigations of the Iraq War, and that the Pentagon had no authority to set the rules.[12]

From 2010 to 2015, Wilkie was Vice President for Strategic Programs for CH2M Hill,[13] one of the largest program management and engineering firms in the world. He worked on advising assignments and program management. This involved working with the summer Olympics in London in 2012, as he helped reform the United Kingdom's Defense Supply and Logistics System.

From 2015 to 2017, Wilkie was a senior advisor to U.S. Senator Thom Tillis.[8]

Wilkie was nominated to be Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness by President Donald Trump in July 2017.[14] This nomination was confirmed by the Senate on November 16, 2017.[15][16]

On March 28, 2018, President Trump announced via Twitter that Wilkie would serve as interim Secretary of Veterans Affairs until the Senate confirmed a successor.[17] On May 18, 2018, following the withdrawn nomination of Ronny Jackson, Trump announced that he was nominating Wilkie to hold the Veterans Affairs position full-time. On July 23, 2018, Wilkie was confirmed by the Senate as the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs, by an 86–9 vote.[2] He was sworn in on July 30, 2018.[4]

In 2019, he was named fifty-second among the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare.[18]

On March 2, 2020, the office of Vice President Mike Pence announced Wilkie's addition to White House Coronavirus Task Force.[19]

Military experience

Wilkie served in the United States Navy Reserve; he is currently in the United States Air Force Reserve, where he holds the rank of Colonel. His assignments have included Joint Forces Intelligence Command, Naval Special Warfare Group Two, and the Office of Naval Intelligence.

Wilkie is a graduate of the College of Naval Command and Staff, Air Command and Staff College, the United States Army War College, and the Joint Forces Staff College. He has had articles published in several military journals, including The Naval War College Review, Parameters, Armed Forces Journal International, and The Air and Space Power Journal Proceedings.

Pro-Confederate speeches

Wilkie said Confederate President Jefferson Davis was a "martyr to 'The Lost Cause'" and an "exceptional man in an exceptional age" in a 1995 speech at the US Capitol. Wilkie also spoke about Robert E. Lee to the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) at a pro-Confederate event in 2009. He also called abolitionists who opposed slavery "radical", "mendacious", and "enemies of liberty", and stated that the Confederate "cause was honorable,"[20] while also condemning slavery as "a stain on our story as it is a stain on every civilization in history".[21] Wilkie is a former member of the SCV.[22]

During Wilkie's confirmation hearings, he gave inaccurate answers to Senators in claiming that he had not spoken to Confederate groups in a much longer time than he really had.[23] In sworn statements to the Senate as part of the nomination questionnaire, he failed to include his membership in the Confederate Memorial Committee and omitted his event speeches from responses asking for details on them.[24]

gollark: Like you can just *disassemble* palaiologocode.
gollark: What if we redefine BEES?
gollark: Guess Olivia inevitably defeats all.
gollark: Oh yes, right, you have multiple strings.
gollark: 2**61 didn't work.

References
  1. "FamilySearch".
  2. "President Trump announces he's nominating Acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie to lead agency". May 2018.
  3. Juana Summers. "Senate confirms new secretary of veterans affairs". CNN. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
  4. Ebbs, Stephanie (July 30, 2018). "Robert Wilkie sworn in as new Veterans Affairs secretary". ABC News.
  5. "Fayetteville native Robert Wilkie confirmed by unanimous consent by U.S. Senate". The Fayetteville Observer. November 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  6. Futch, Michael. "Wilkie calls his nomination for defense position 'an honor'". The Fayetteville Observer. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  7. "5 things to know about incoming VA secretary Robert Wilkie". USA Today. July 24, 2018.
  8. Kesling, Ben (June 26, 2018). "VA Nominee Faces Questions on Role in Jesse Helms Races". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  9. Murphy, Brian (May 18, 2018). "Trump picks North Carolina's Robert Wilkie to lead the VA". The News & Observer.
  10. "United States Department of Defense". www.defenselink.mil.
  11. Murphy, Brian (July 20, 2017). "Trump taps Tillis aide for Pentagon post". McClatchy DC. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  12. Bender, Bryan (May 11, 2007). "Pentagon restricting who can testify before Congress". SF Gate. Boston Globe. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  13. Schallhorn, Kaitlyn (May 18, 2018). "Who is Robert Wilkie? 4 things to know about Trump's Veterans Affairs secretary". Fox News. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  14. III, Leo Shane (August 22, 2017). "Trump nominates Wilkie, Kurta to oversee Pentagon personnel issues". Military Times. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  15. "PN813 — Robert L. Wilkie — Department of Defense". U.S. Congress. November 16, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  16. Brooks, Drew. "Fayetteville native Robert Wilkie confirmed by unanimous consent by U.S. Senate". The Fayetteville Observer. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  17. @realdonaldtrump (March 28, 2018). "Ronnie Jackson will be new VA Secretary, Hon. Robert Wilkie will be the interim" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. "100 Most Influential People in Healthcare - 2019". Modern Healthcare. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  19. Lejeune, Tristan (March 2, 2020). "White House adds VA secretary, CMS chief to coronavirus task force". TheHill. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  20. Kaczynski, Andrew (December 7, 2018). "VA secretary praised Confederate president as a "martyr to 'The Lost Cause'" in 1995 speech". CNN. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  21. Selk, Avi (December 10, 2018). "Trump's VA secretary is a fan of Jefferson Davis. But Davis was loathed in the Confederacy". St. Louis Post Dispatch. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  22. Itkowitz, Colby (June 27, 2018). "The Health 202: 'We will hold you accountable.' Democrats grill Azar on family separations". Washington Post. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
  23. Kaczynski, Andrew (December 14, 2018). "VA secretary gave inaccurate answers on pro-Confederate ties during confirmation process". CNN. Retrieved December 14, 2018.
  24. Kaczynski, Andrew (January 4, 2019). "VA Secretary Robert Wilkie didn't disclose pro-Confederate associations on confirmation paperwork". CNN.

(acting) (acting)

Political offices
Preceded by
Dan Stanley		 Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs
September 30, 2006 – January 19, 2009		 Succeeded by
Elizabeth King
Preceded by
Jessica L. Wright		 Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
November 30, 2017 – July 30, 2018		 Succeeded by
Matthew Donovan
Preceded by
David Shulkin		 Acting United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
March 28, 2018 – May 29, 2018		 Succeeded by
Peter O'Rourke
Acting
Preceded by
David Shulkin		 United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
July 30, 2018 – present		 Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by
Betsy DeVos
as Secretary of Education		 Order of precedence of the United States
as Secretary of Veterans Affairs		 Succeeded by
Chad Wolf
as Secretary of Homeland Security
U.S. presidential line of succession
Preceded by
Betsy DeVos
as Secretary of Education		 16th in line
as Secretary of Veterans Affairs		 Succeeded by
Chad Wolf
as Secretary of Homeland Security
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