Mark Lippert

Mark William Lippert (born February 28, 1973) is the Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense. He previously served as Chief of Staff for the National Security Council and as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs in the Department of Defense.

Education and early career
Lippert was born in and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father, James Lippert, is a lawyer. Lippert graduated from Stanford University where he studied political science. While he considered entering Officer Candidate School after college, he returned to Stanford and received a master's degree in international policy studies. While in graduate school at Stanford, he studied Mandarin Chinese at Peking University as part of a study abroad program.

Prior to 1999, he worked at the State Department and for California Senator Diane Feinstein. Lippert was a defense and foreign policy advisor to then Senator and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and the Senate Democratic Policy Committee from 1999 to October 2000. He then served as a researcher for Senator Patrick Leahy from October 2000 to February 2001. Lippert served on the professional staff of the Senate Appropriations Committee, State–Foreign Operations Subcommittee, from February 2001 to June 2005. In June 2005, he became a foreign policy advisor to then Senator Barack Obama, who was then serving on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. He was recruited by Senator Obama's then Chief of Staff, Pete Rouse, who is currently serving as Counselor to the President.

Lippert was also commissioned into the Navy Reserve in 2005 through the Navy's direct commission officer program as an intelligence officer. From August 2007 until June 2008, he served about a year in what had been scheduled as a nine-month tour of duty in Iraq as an intelligence officer with the Navy SEALs. He received a Bronze Star Medal for his service in Iraq.

After he returned from Iraq, Lippert served as a senior foreign policy advisor to then Senator Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. He was responsible for briefing Obama on emerging foreign policy issues throughout the campaign. He helped prepare Obama on foreign policy for the presidential debates. Lippert later served as deputy director for foreign policy for the Obama–Biden Transition Project.

Throughout his time in the Senate and during the presidential campaign, Lippert was noted for having a close relationship with then Senator Obama. He is credited for helping Obama develop his views on defense and foreign policy, particularly his support for a withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, which was completed under President Obama in December 2011 as well as Obama's emphasis on transnational security issues, such as genocide and weapons of mass destruction.

Obama administration
Following Obama's inauguration in January 2009, he was appointed Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff for the National Security Council, a position which had not existed in the Bush administration, but had existed in previous administrations. During his time as Chief of Staff, Lippert oversaw the merger of the staffs of the Homeland Security Council, which had been created in October 2009 by President Bush, and the National Security Council, into a single National Security Staff. Unlike his recent predecessors, then National Security Advisor and retired Marine Corps General, Jim Jones, delegated much of the day-to-day responsibilities for the National Security Council to his deputy, Thomas Donilon, and to a couple of Obama campaign veterans, including Denis McDonough and Mark Lippert.

In October 2009, Lippert resigned from the National Security Council to return to active duty in the Navy. There was speculation surrounding Lippert's resignation that he was pushed to leave due to significant disagreements with General Jones, especially with respect to the troop surge. Jones accused Lippert of leaking information about him to Bob Woodward for Obama's Wars. Lippert was succeeded by Denis McDonough, who served as National Security Council Chief of Staff until October 2010, when he became Deputy National Security Advisor. Lippert had originally recruited McDonough to serve as then Senator Obama's foreign policy advisor during his deployment to Iraq. McDonough was in turn replaced in January 2011 by Brooke Anderson, then deputy to Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.

Lippert spent two years serving as an intelligence officer with the Navy SEALs and the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, better known by its former name, SEAL Team Six, including deployments to Afghanistan and undisclosed locations in Africa. He continued to be on the White House payroll while on active duty, which is permitted by federal law, but caused some controversy.

After completing his active duty with the Navy, Lippert was nominated by President Obama in October 2011 to succeed General Wallace Gregson as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs. While Lippert's nomination was held up for several months due to holds placed on it by Senators John McCain and John Cornyn Lippert's relationship with former National Security Advisor Jim Jones, and over F-16 sales to Taiwan, respectively, he was confirmed by the Senate in a voice vote on April 2012.

When Kurt Campbell resigned as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in February 2013, Lippert was rumoured as a possible replacement for Campbell. Lippert was named newly-confirmed Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's Chief of Staff in early May 2013.