Robert Wilkie was previously Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness during the Trump administration, from November 2017 to July 2018.
22 Facts About Robert Wilkie
2.
Robert Wilkie received a JD degree from Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans in 1988 and an LL.
3.
Robert 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.
4.
Robert Wilkie began his career on Capitol Hill as counsel to Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, and later became legislative director for Representative David Funderburk.
5.
In 1996, Robert Wilkie unsuccessfully sought for the Republican nomination in North Carolina's 7th congressional district.
6.
Robert Wilkie was later the executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party at a time Helms was in a contentious reelection fight against Democratic challenger Harvey Gantt.
7.
Robert Wilkie defended a pro-Helms mailer that was criticized as racially charged.
8.
Robert Wilkie then returned to Capitol Hill as counsel and advisor on international security affairs to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott from 1997 to 2003.
9.
From 2003 to 2005, in the George W Bush administration, Wilkie was special assistant to the President for national security affairs and a senior director of the National Security Council.
10.
Robert Wilkie was a senior policy advisor to then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice as well as her successor, Stephen Hadley.
11.
Robert Wilkie later moved to the Pentagon, where in 2007, as assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs, Wilkie authored a memo outlining guidelines that limited which Defense Department personnel could testify to Congress.
12.
Robert Wilkie memo directed that only highest-ranking officers and presidentially appointed civilians could offer congressional testimony, barring all field-grade officers and enlisted personnel from testifying.
13.
Robert Wilkie received the Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest civilian award of the Department.
14.
From 2010 to 2015, Robert Wilkie was vice president for strategic programs for CH2M Hill, an engineering company.
15.
From 2015 to 2017, Robert Wilkie was a senior advisor to US Senator Thom Tillis.
16.
In 2019, after the resignation of Jim Mattis, Robert Wilkie lobbied to the Trump White House for an appointment as Secretary of Defense, but was not chosen by President Trump.
17.
On March 28,2018, Trump announced via Twitter that Robert Wilkie would serve as interim Secretary of Veterans Affairs until the Senate confirmed a successor.
18.
In February 2020, Robert Wilkie abruptly fired James Byrne from his position of deputy secretary of veterans affairs.
19.
The New York Times editorial board called for Robert Wilkie to be dismissed.
20.
Robert Wilkie is a former member of the SCV and its Confederate Memorial Committee, having been listed as a member at least through 2010; In June 2018, a Defense Department spokesperson said that Robert Wilkie no longer considered himself a member of the group.
21.
Amid continued pressure, Robert Wilkie reversed himself, and VA quietly removed the grave markers in 2020.
22.
Robert Wilkie is married to Julia Wilkie, whom he has known since childhood.