Prepared by Dr. Shannon E. Mohan, Historian

Dr. Erin R. Mahan, Chief Historian 
“I believe that the Deputy should be 

versed, across the board, in the problems 

and responsibilities that the Secretary of 

Defense has, so that he can always step in 

and not just be in the wings somewhere, 

waiting to be called . . . I would keep 

the Deputy’s role as one of a generalist, 

of being available in all areas, of being 

versed and experienced, and of dealing 

with whatever came up, as a junior partner 

and alter ego for the Secretary.”

 

Roswell L. Gilpatric

former Deputy Secretary of Defense

Contents

Historical Origins of the 

Deputy Secretary of Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii

Deputy Secretaries of Defense. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Deputy Secretary Demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

History of the Positional Colors 

for the Offi ce of the Deputy Secretary of Defense . . . . . 11

k
Five former Deputy Secretaries of Defense (L-R): William Howard Taft 

IV, John J. Hamre, Paul H. Nitze, Robert F. Ellsworth, and John P. White, 

November 1998. (OSD Historical Of ce)

(L-R) Deputy Secretary of Defense-designate David Packard, Secretary 

of Defense-designate Melvin R. Laird with their predecessors, Secretary 

of Defense Clark Clifford and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul H. Nitze, 

January 1969. (OSD Historical Of ce) 

Secretary of the Navy (and future Deputy Secretary of Defense) Paul H. Nitze 

meets with Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and Deputy Secretary 

of Defense Cyrus R. Vance, April 1965. (OSD Historical Of ce)
Historical Origins of 

the Deputy 

Secretary of Defense

The post of a “second in command” at the Pentagon was 

not part of the 1947 National Security Act, which created 

the position of Secretary of Defense.

Public Law 81-36, signed by President Harry S. Truman 

k

on 2 April 1949, created an Under Secretary of Defense. 

The 1949 National Security Act Amendments, signed into 

k

law by President Harry S. Truman on 10 August 1949, 

redesignated the post of “Under Secretary of Defense” to 

“Deputy Secretary of Defense.”

Under the 1949 Amendments, the Deputy Secretary of 

k

Defense was appointed from civilian life by the President, 

with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided the 

person was not within 10 years after relief from active 

duty as a commissioned of cer of a regular component 

of the armed forces. The Deputy performs such duties 

and exercises such powers as the Secretary of Defense 

may prescribe; acts for, and exercises the powers of, 

the Secretary of Defense when the Secretary is disabled 

or absent; and takes precedence in the Department of 

Defense immediately after the Secretary.

President Richard M. Nixon signed Public Law 92-596 on 

k

27 October 1972 establishing a second Deputy Secretary 

of Defense.

k 

The second Deputy Secretary of Defense position was 

not  lled until December 1975.

This second Deputy Secretary of Defense was abolished 

k

by Public Law 95-140 on 21 October 1977. Two Under 

Secretaries of Defense, the Under Secretary of Defense for 

Policy and the Under Secretary of Defense for Research 

and Engineering, replaced the second Deputy Secretary 

of Defense.
Deputy

Secretaries

of

Defense

1949 - 2015
1

TRUMAN ADMINISTRATION

Stephen Tyree Early

10 August 1949–30 September 1950

• Served in the U.S. Army, 1917–1919

• Journalist with United Press, 1908–1913; 

Associated Press, 1913–1917, 1920–1927

• Assistant Secretary to President Franklin D. 

Roosevelt for Press, 1933–1945

• Considered the  rst modern press secretary

• First Under Secretary of Defense, 2 May 

1949–9 August 1949, before the position was 

redesignated “Deputy”

Robert Abercrombie Lovett

4 October 1950–16 September 1951

• B.A., Yale (1918)

• Served in the U.S. Navy, 1917–1919

• Investment banker 

• Partner, Brown Brothers Harriman and 

Company, 1926–1940; 1946-1947; 1949-1950

• Special Assistant to the Secretary of War, 

1940–1941

• Assistant to the Secretary of War for Air, 

1941–1945

• Under Secretary of State, 1947–1949

• Secretary of Defense, 1951–1953

William Chapman Foster

24 September 1951–20 January 1953

• Attended MIT 

• Served in the U.S. Army, 1917

• Business executive

• President, Pressed and Welded Steel Products 

Company, 1946

• Under Secretary of Commerce, 1946–1948

• Administrator, Economic Cooperation 

Administration, 1948–1951

• Director, U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament 

Agency, 1961–1969

EISENHOWER ADMINISTRATION

Roger Martin Kyes

2 February 1953–1 May 1954

• B.A., Harvard (1928)

• Business executive

• General Manager, Truck and Coach Division, 

General Motors Corporation, 1950

• Vice President, General Motors Corporation, 

1950

• Vice President, Accessory Group, General 

Motors Corporation, 1959–1965

• Executive Vice President, Automotive 

Components Group and Defense Division, 

General Motors Corporation, 1965–1970
2

Robert Bernerd Anderson

3 May 1954–4 August 1955

• B.A., Weatherford College (1927); University 

of Texas Law School (1932) 

• Lawyer

• Served one term in the Texas House of 

Representatives, 1933

• General Counsel; Manager, W.T. Waggoner 

Estate, 1937–1952

• Secretary of the Navy, 1953–1954

• President, Ventures Limited, 1955–1957

• Secretary of the Treasury, 1957–1961

• Special Ambassador to Panama, 1964–1973

Reuben Buck Robertson, Jr.

5 August 1955–25 April 1957

• B.S., Yale (1930) 

• Engineer

• Member, War Production Board, 1942

• Served in the U.S. Army, 1942–1945

• President, Champion Paper and Fibre 

Company, 1950–1955

• Wage Stabilization Board, 1950–1951

• Vice Chairman, Hoover Commission’s 

Committee on Business Organization of the 

Defense Department, 1955

Donald Aubrey Quarles

1 May 1957–8 May 1959

• B.A., Yale (1916)

• Served in the U.S. Army, 1917–1919

• Engineer, Bell Telephone Laboratories, 

1919–1948

• Vice President, Bell Telephone Laboratories, 

1948–1952

• President, Sandia Corporation, 1952

• Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research 

and Development, 1953–1955

• Secretary of the Air Force, 1955–1957

Thomas Sovereign Gates, Jr.

8 June 1959–1 December 1959

• B.A., University of Pennsylvania (1928)

• Investment banker 

• Partner, Drexel and Company, 1940

• Served in the U.S. Navy, 1942–1945

• Under Secretary of the Navy, 1953–1957

• Secretary of the Navy, 1957–1959

• Secretary of Defense, 1959–1961

• Chief, U.S. Liaison Of ce to the People’s 

Republic of China, 1976–1977
3

James Henderson Douglas, Jr.

11 December 1959–24 January 1961

• B.A., Princeton (1920); Harvard Law School 

(1924) 

• Lawyer

• Served in the U.S. Army, 1918; U.S. Army Air 

Forces, 1942–1945

• Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, 1932–

1933

• Under Secretary of the Air Force, 1953–1957

• Secretary of the Air Force, 1957–1959

KENNEDY & JOHNSON ADMINISTRATIONS

Roswell Leavitt Gilpatric

 24 January 1961–20 January 1964

• A.B., Yale (1928); Yale Law School (1931) 

• Lawyer

• Partner, Cravath, Swain & Moore, 1940–1951; 

1953–1961

• Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for 

Material, 1951

• Under Secretary of the Air Force, 1951–1953

• Chairman, Board of Trustees, Aerospace 

Corporation, 1960–1961

• Special Presidential Emissary to Portugal, 

1964

• Deputy Chairman, Board of Directors, New 

York Federal Reserve Bank, 1970

• Chairman, Board of Directors, New York 

Federal Reserve Bank, 1971

Cyrus Roberts Vance

28 January 1964–30 June 1967

• B.A., Yale (1939); Yale Law School (1942) 

• Lawyer

• Served in the U.S. Navy, 1942–1946

• Associate; Partner, Simpson, Thacher and 

Bartlett, 1947–1956; 1956–1961

• General Counsel, Department of Defense, 

1961–1962

• Secretary of the Army, 1962–1963

• Secretary of State, 1977–1980

Paul Henry Nitze

1 July 1967–20 January 1969

• B.A., Harvard (1928)

• Investment banker 

• Vice President, Dillon, Read, and Company, 

1939–1941

• Served in the U.S. Government during World 

War II

• Director; Vice Chairman, U.S. Strategic 

Bombing Survey, 1944–1946

• Director, Policy Planning Staff, Department of 

State, 1950–1953

• Assistant Secretary of Defense for 

International Security Affairs, 1961–1963

• Secretary of the Navy, 1963–1967
4

NIXON & FORD ADMINISTRATIONS

David Packard

24 January 1969–13 December 1971

• A.B., Stanford (1934); M.A., Stanford (1939) 

• Engineer

• Cofounder with William Hewlett, HewlettPackard Company, 1938

• President; Chief Executive Of cer; Chairman 

of the Board, Hewlett-Packard, 1947–1964; 

1964-1969

• Chairman, President’s Blue Ribbon 

Commission on Defense Management, 

1985–1986

David Kenneth Rush

23 February 1972–29 January 1973

• B.A., University of Tennessee (1930); Yale 

Law School (1932) 

• Lawyer

• Associate, Chadbourne, Stanch eld & Levy, 

1932–1936

• Professor of Law, Duke University, 1936–

1937

• Vice President; Director; Executive Vice 

President; President, Union Carbide and 

Carbon Corporation, 1949; 1958; 1961; 

1966–1969

• U.S. Ambassador to the Federal Republic of 

Germany, 1969–1972

• Deputy Secretary of State, 1973–1974

• U.S. Ambassador to France, 1974–1977

William Perry Clements, Jr.

30 January 1973–20 January 1977

• Attended Southern Methodist University 

• Engineer

• Served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

1941–1945

• Founder, Southeast Drilling Company, 1947

• Chairman, Board of Governors, Southern 

Methodist University, 1965–1973

• First Republican Governor of Texas since 

Reconstruction, 1979–1983; 1987–1991

Robert Fred Ellsworth

23 December 1975–10 January 1977

• B.S., University of Kansas (1945); University 

of Michigan Law School (1949) 

• Mechanical engineer; lawyer

• Served in the U.S. Navy, 1944–1946; 

1950–1953

• Republican Congressman from Kansas, 

1961–1967

• U.S. Ambassador to NATO, 1969–1974

• Assistant Secretary of Defense for 

International Security Affairs, 1974–1975

• The  rst and only Second Deputy Secretary of 

Defense
5

CARTER ADMINISTRATION

Charles William Duncan, Jr.

31 January 1977–26 July 1979

• B.S., Rice University (1947) 

• Chemical engineer

• Served in the U.S. Army Air Forces, 1944–

1946

• Administrative Vice President; President, 

Duncan Foods, 1957; 1958

• Head, Coca-Cola Company’s European 

operations, 1964

• Executive Vice President; President, CocaCola Company, 1970; 1971

• Secretary of Energy, 1979–1981

William Graham Claytor, Jr.

24 August 1979–16 January 1981

• B.A., University of Virginia (1933); Harvard 

Law School (1936) 

• Lawyer

• Served in the U.S. Navy, 1941–1946

• Associate; Partner, Covington & Burling, 

1938–1967

• Vice President; President; Chairman, Southern 

Railway Company, 1967–1977

• Secretary of the Navy, 1977–1979

• Acting Secretary of Transportation, 1979

REAGAN ADMINISTRATION

Frank Charles Carlucci

4 February 1981–31 December 1982

• A.B., Princeton (1952)

• Served in the U.S. Navy, 1952–1954

• U.S. Foreign Service Of cer, Department of 

State, 1956–1969

• Assistant Director for Operations; Director, 

Of ce of Economic Opportunity, 1969–1970; 

1971

• Associate Director and Deputy Director, 

Of ce of Management and Budget, 1971–

1972

• Under Secretary of Health, Education and 

Welfare, 1972–1974

• U.S. Ambassador to Portugal, 1974–1978

• Deputy Director, Central Intelligence Agency, 

1978–1981

• Assistant to the President for National 

Security Affairs, 1987

• Secretary of Defense, 1987–1989
6

William Paul Thayer

12 January 1983–4 January 1984

• Attended the University of Kansas 

• Pilot

• Served in the U.S. Navy, 1941–1945

• Test Pilot; Chief Test Pilot, Chance Vought, 

1948; 1949–1950

• Flight Test Director; Vice President of Sales, 

Chance Vought, 1952–1954

• President, Chance Vought Aircraft, 1961–1965

• President, LTV Aerospace Corporation, 

1965–1970

• Chairman and CEO, LTV Corporation, 1970–1982

William Howard Taft IV

3 February 1984–22 April 1989

• B.A., Yale (1966); Harvard Law School (1969) 

• Lawyer

• Attorney adviser to Chairman, Federal Trade 

Commission, 1969–1970

• Principal Assistant to Deputy Director, Of ce 

of Management and Budget, 1970–1973

• Executive Assistant to Secretary, Department 

of Health, Education and Welfare, 1973–1976

• General Counsel, Department of Health, 

Education and Welfare, 1976–1977

• General Counsel, Department of Defense, 1981–1984

• Acting Secretary of Defense, January 1989–

March 1989

• U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO, 

1989–1992

BUSH ADMINISTRATION

Donald Jesse Atwood

24 April 1989–20 January 1993

• S.B., MIT (1948); S.M., MIT (1950) 

• Electrical engineer

• Served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, 1943–1946

• Vice President and Treasurer, Dynatrol 

Corporation, 1952–1959

• President, GM Hughes Electronics 

Corporation, 1984

• Executive Vice President; Vice Chairman of 

the Board, GM, 1984; 1987

CLINTON ADMINISTRATION

William James Perry

5 March 1993–3 February 1994

• B.S., Stanford (1949), M.S., Stanford (1950); 

Ph.D., Penn State (1957) 

• Mathematician

• Served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

1946–1947; U.S. Army Reserves, 1950–1955

• Laboratory Director, General Telephone and 

Electronics, 1954–1964

• Founder; President, ESL, Inc., 1964–1977

• Under Secretary of Defense for Research and 

Engineering, 1977–1981

• Secretary of Defense, February 1994–January 1997
7

John Mark Deutch

11 March 1994–10 May 1995

• B.A., Amherst College (1961); B.S., MIT 

(1961); Ph.D., MIT (1965)

• Physical chemist

• Systems Analyst, Department of Defense, 

1961–1965

• Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Princeton 

University, 1966–1969

• • Professor; Dean; Provost, MIT, 1970–1977; 

1980–1993

• Director of Energy Research; Under Secretary 

of Energy, 1977–1980

• Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition 

and Technology, 1993–1994

• Director, Central Intelligence Agency, 

1995–1996

John Patrick White

22 June 1995–15 July 1997

• B.S., Cornell (1959); M.A., Syracuse 

University (1964); Ph.D., Syracuse (1969) 

• Economist

• Served in the U.S. Marine Corps, 1959–1961

• Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, 

Reserve Affairs, and Logistics, 1977–1978

• Deputy Director, Of ce of Management and 

Budget, 1978–1981

• Chairman, Commission on Roles and 

Missions of the Armed Forces, 1994–1995

John Julian Hamre

29 July 1997–31 March 2000

• B.A., Augustana College (1972); Ph.D., Johns 

Hopkins University (1978) 

• Deputy Assistant Director for National 

Security and International Affairs, 

Congressional Budget Of ce, 1978–1984 

• Staff member, Senate Armed Services 

Committee, 1984–1993

• Under Secretary of Defense, Comptroller, 

1993–1997

• Chief Executive Of cer and President; 

Pritzker Chair, Center for Strategic and 

International Studies, 2000–

Rudy Frank de Leon

31 March 2000–1 March 2001

• B.A., Loyola Marymount University (1974)

• Legislative Assistant, U.S. Senate, 1974–1977

• Staff member, House Armed Services 

Committee, 1985–1989

• Staff Director, House Armed Services 

Committee, 1989–1993

• Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense, 

1993–1994

• Under Secretary of the Air Force, 1994–1997

• Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and 

Readiness, 1997–2000
8

BUSH ADMINISTRATION

Paul Dundes Wolfowitz

2 March 2001–1 May 2005

• B.A., Cornell (1965); Ph.D., University of 

Chicago (1972)

• Political scientist

• Special Assistant, U.S. Arms Control and 

Disarmament Agency, 1973–1977

• Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for 

Regional Programs, 1977–1980

• Director, Policy Planning, Department of 

State, 1981–1982

• Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and 

Paci c Affairs, 1982–1986

• U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, 1986–1989

• Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, 1989–1993

• President, World Bank, 2005–2007

Gordon Richard England

4 January 2006–20 January 2009

• B.S., University of Maryland (1961); M.B.A., 

Texas Christian University (1975)

• Executive Vice President, General Dynamics, 

1997–2001

• Secretary of the Navy, 2001–2003; 2003–2005

• Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, 2003

• Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense, 2005–2006

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

William J. Lynn III

12 February 2009–5 October 2011

• B.A., Dartmouth (1976); Cornell Law School 

(1980); M.P.A., Princeton (1982) 

• Lawyer 

• Executive Director, Defense Organization 

Project, Center for Strategic and International 

Studies, 1982–1985

• Legislative Counsel, Sen. Edward Kennedy, 

1987–1993

• Director, Program Analysis and Evaluation, 

Of ce of the Secretary of Defense, 1993–1997

• Under Secretary of Defense, Comptroller, 1997–2001

• Senior Vice President of Government 

Operations and Strategy, Raytheon Company, 

2002–2009

Ashton Baldwin Carter

6 October 2011–3 December 2013

• B.A., Yale (1976); D.Phil., Oxford University (1979) 

• Theoretical physicist

• Assistant Secretary of Defense for 

International Security Policy, 1993–1996

• Professor, John F. Kennedy School of 

Government, Harvard, 2006–2009

• Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, 

Technology and Logistics, 2009–2011
9

Robert Orton Work

5 May 2014 –

• B.S., University of Illinois (1974); M.S., 

University of Southern California (1980); 

M.S., Naval Postgraduate School (1990); 

MIPP, Johns Hopkins University School of 

Advanced International Studies (1994)

• Served in the U.S. Marine Corps, 1974–2001

• Senior Associate, Tof er Associates, 2001–

2002

• Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic and 

Budgetary Assessments, 2002–2006

• Vice President for Strategic Studies, Center 

for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, 

2007–2009

• Adjunct Professor, George Washington 

University, 2007–2009

• Under Secretary of the Navy, 2009–2013

• Chief Executive Of cer, Center for a New 

American Security, 2013–2014
10

Deputy Secretary Demographics

Number of Con rmed Deputies

since the post was created in 1949: 32

Five Deputies later became Secretary of Defense: 

Robert A. Lovett

 Thomas S. Gates, Jr.

Frank C. Carlucci 

William J. Perry

Ashton B. Carter

Average age of the Deputies when entering of ce: 

56.8 years old

Average tenure for a Deputy Secretary:

748.74 days or 24.62 months,

or a little over two years

Primary career fields 

of the 3 Deputies:

Military Service: 18 of 32 Deputies 

served in the Armed Forces

2
11

History of the 

Positional Colors 

for the 

Office of the Deputy 

Secretary of Defense

This  ag was approved by President Harry S. Truman 

on 20 April 1949. It is in reverse colors to the  ag of 

the Secretary of Defense, which is medium blue with 

the embroidered eagle in its center and with a white, 

 ve-pointed star with one point upward in each of 

the four corners. The Secretary of Defense’s  ag was 

designed in October 1947. 

The emblem of the American eagle facing to its right 

with horizontal wings, clutching three crossed arrows, 

and bearing a red, white and blue shield was part of 

the seal of the National Military Establishment in 

1947 and the redesignated Department of Defense in 

1949. 

According to the 1947 press release from the Of ce of 

the Secretary of Defense, the eagle facing to its right 

indicates honor. “The eagle is defending the United 

States, represented by the shield of thirteen pieces. 

The thirteen pieces are joined together by the blue 

chief representing Congress.”

When the position of Under Secretary of Defense was 

redesignated Deputy Secretary of Defense in August 

1949, the  ag remained as originally designed.
12

Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert A. Lovett briefs the press, 

January 1951. (National Archives)

Deputy Secretary of Defense Roswell L. Gilpatric at his Pentagon 

of ce, June 1961. (OSD Historical Of ce)

Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz with Secretary of 

Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, April 2007. (National Archives)
Prepared by Dr. Shannon E. Mohan, Historian

Dr. Erin R. Mahan, Chief Historian