11th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Denis Richard McDonough (born December 2, 1969) is an American government official serving as the 11th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs under President Joe Biden since 2021.

McDonough served in the Obama Administration as chief of staff at the National Security Council from 2009 to 2010 and as Deputy National Security Advisor from 2010 to 2013. He also served as White House Chief of Staff for the full second term of President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017. He was the second-longest Democrat to serve as the chief of staff since John R. Steelman in 1946, and the longest since Andrew Card (5 years, 84 days) during the first and second terms of the Bush administration.

Contents

• 1 Early life and education
• 2 Career
  • 2.1 Obama administration
  • 2.2 Return to private life
• 3 Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2021–present)
• 4 Personal life
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Early life and education

McDonough was born on December 2, 1969, in Stillwater, Minnesota. He was one of 11 children in a devout Irish Catholic family, his grandparents having immigrated from Connemara in the Gaeltacht.

McDonough graduated from Stillwater Area High School in 1988, then attended Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota He played safety on the Johnnies football team for Hall of Fame coach John Gagliardi and was a member of teams that won two conference *les in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. McDonough graduated from Saint John's University with a Bachelor of Arts, summa * laude, in history and Spanish in 1992. After graduation, he traveled extensively throughout Latin America and taught high school in Belize.

In 1996, McDonough earned an MSFS degree at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Career

From 1996 to 1999, McDonough worked as an aide for the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where he focused on Latin America. He then served as a senior foreign policy advisor to Senator Tom Daschle. After Daschle's reelection defeat in 2004, McDonough became legislative director for newly elected Senator Ken Salazar. McDonough was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in 2004.

In 2007, Senator Barack Obama's chief foreign policy advisor Mark Lippert, a Navy reservist, was called into active duty. Lippert recruited McDonough to serve as his replacement during his deployment to Iraq. McDonough continued to serve as a senior foreign policy advisor to Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign.

Obama administration

McDonough, seated, third from right in blue shirt, in the Situation Room during the Bin Laden raid. McDonough conferring with Obama about the Cairo Speech, with Ben Rhodes, on June 4, 2009.

After Obama was elected president, McDonough joined the administration as the National Security Council's head of strategic communication. He also served as National Security Council chief of staff.

On October 20, 2010, Obama announced that McDonough would replace Thomas E. Donilon as Deputy National Security Advisor, who had been promoted to succeed General James L. Jones as National Security Advisor. McDonough was seen in photos of the White House Situation Room taken during the monitoring of the May 2011 SEAL operation in Pakistan that resulted in the Osama bin Laden's death.

On January 20, 2013, at the beginning of his second term in office, Obama appointed McDonough his chief of staff. In February 2013 McDonough urged lawmakers to quickly confirm Chuck Hagel and John O. Brennan to their posts in Obama's national security team, expressing "grave concern" about the delays.

Return to private life

In 2017, McDonough joined the Markle Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to "transform America's outdated labor market to reflect the needs of the digital economy", boost employment opportunities, and expand job training for Americans. As a senior principal, he worked to grow the organization nationwide and broaden its work with governments such as the state of Colorado, public ins*utions such as Arizona State University, and private companies such as LinkedIn.

McDonough is a professor of the practice at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs and a visiting senior fellow in Carnegie's Technology and International Affairs Program.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2021–present)

McDonough being sworn in on February 9, 2021 Secretary McDonough with First Lady Jill Biden and Secretary Xavier Becerra, June 4, 2021

President Joe Biden nominated McDonough to lead the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. He appeared before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on January 27, 2021. On February 8, the Senate confirmed McDonough as VA Secretary by a 87–7 vote, with six senators absent. McDonough is the second non-veteran to hold this position. Vice President Kamala Harris swore him in on February 9.

Personal life

McDonough is married to Karin Hillstrom. They have three children.

References

External links

• Biography at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Denis McDonough at IMDb:

See also: Political appointments by Joe Biden* took office in 2009, raised to cabinet-rank in 2012
See also: Confirmations of Barack Obama's CabinetBelow solid line: Granted Cabinet rank although not automatically part of the Cabinet. See also: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet† Remained from previous administration.