Atlantic Council:

FREDERICK KEMPE: Hello and welcome to this edition of Atlantic Council Front Page, or #ACFrontPage, our premier live ideas forum for global leaders. Today we have the honor of hosting US Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper for a discussion about the role allies and partners play in US national security—a question that has been the Atlantic Council’s work since its founding in 1961. Secretary Esper, we know how busy you are and the challenges you confront ever day across the world. And indeed, next week you will leave on another trip to attend the 2+2 meeting with Secretary Pompeo in India. So thanks so—thank you so much for taking the time to join us.

Secretary Esper serves as the 27th US secretary of defense, having been confirmed by the United States Senate in July of 2019 with a vote of ninety to eight. Prior to assuming his current position, he was the 23rd US secretary of the Army from 2017 to 2019. Secretary Esper spent ten years on active duty in the Army, serving as an infantry officer with the 101st Airborne, also known as the Screaming Eagles. And he served with them during Desert Storm and the Gulf War, where he was awarded the Bronze Star and various other medals. He’s a graduate in engineering from West Point, where he received the Douglas MacArthur Award for Leadership. He has a master’s degree from the Kennedy School at Harvard, and a doctorate in public policy from George Washington University. He has also had a number of increasingly-responsible positions in the Senate and served as deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Pentagon as well. So that’s just a remarkable track record of public service…

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