David L. Norquist (born November 24, 1966) is an American financial management professional and government official who served as the 34th

United States deputy secretary of defense The deputy secretary of defense (acronym: DepSecDef) is a statutory office () and the second-highest-ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The deputy secretary is the principal civilian deputy to the sec ...

from 2019 to 2021. In January 2021, he served for two days as acting

United States secretary of defense The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The ...

, succeeding Christopher C. Miller.

Early life and education

Norquist graduated from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

with a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in Public Policy in 1989. In 1995, he received a master's degree in national security studies from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

. He is the brother of lobbyist

Grover Norquist Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primar ...

Career

Norquist began his career in 1989 as a Presidential Management Fellow and GS-9 Program Budget Analyst, a federal civil servant position for the Department of the Army; he served in that position for four years. From 1993 to 1995, he was a budget analyst in the

U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command The United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) is a direct reporting unit that conducts intelligence, security, and information operations for United States Army commanders, partners in the Intelligence Community, and nationa ...

. Norquist was Director of Resource Management at Menwith Hill Station in

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

for the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command from 1995 to 1996. For six years, between 1997 and 2002, Norquist worked as a staffer on the Subcommittee on Defense for the

House Appropriations Committee The United States House Committee on Appropriations is a committee of the United States House of Representatives that is responsible for passing appropriation bills along with its Senate counterpart. The bills passed by the Appropriations Commi ...

. Between 2002 and 2006, he was

Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (DUSD) is the title for several high-ranking posts in the U.S. Department of Defense, requiring appointment by the president and are confirmed by the Senate by majority vote. There are currently six DUSDs, one for ...

in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Comptroller of the Department of Defense. In 2006, Norquist was selected by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

to be Chief Financial Officer at the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

. He served in this position from June 1, 2006 to December 1, 2008. As the first person to be confirmed by the Senate for that position, he took steps to address widespread problems with DHS's financial statements. In 2008, Norquist joined

Kearney & Company Kearney & Company is a CPA firm established in 1985. It is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. It exclusively serves the federal government of the United States. Kearney & Company are the 'independent auditors' of the United States Department of ...

, a certified public accounting firm, as a partner. On March 20, 2017, President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Norquist to be Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer in the Department of Defense. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 25, 2017 by unanimous consent and began serving on June 2, 2017. As Comptroller, he oversaw DoD's first-ever department-wide

audit An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon.” Auditing ...

of $2.7 trillion in assets, which involved over 1,000 outside auditors and discovered "major flaws" but no "major cases of fraud or abuse."

Deputy Secretary of Defense

Following the December 2018 resignation of

Jim Mattis James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general who served as the 26th US secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. During his 44 years in the Marine Corps, he commanded forces in the Persia ...

as secretary of defense, deputy secretary Patrick Shanahan was made the acting secretary of defense and Norquist was made acting deputy secretary. He served as acting deputy for several months before being formally nominated for the position. After Shanahan suddenly resigned on June 18, 2019, President

Trump Trump most commonly refers to: * Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) * Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank Trump may also refer to: Businesses and organizations * Donald J. T ...

announced his intention to nominate Army secretary

Mark Esper Mark Thomas Esper (born April 26, 1964) is an American politician and manufacturing executive who served as the 27th United States secretary of defense from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, he had previously served as the 23rd ...

to be defense secretary. On June 21, the president announced his intention to nominate Norquist to be deputy secretary. His nomination was sent to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on July 23, and he was confirmed by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...

on July 30, 2019, after having acted in the role for nearly seven months. Norquist pledged to shake up the

defense budget A military budget (or military expenditure), also known as a defense budget, is the amount of financial resources dedicated by a state to raising and maintaining an armed forces or other methods essential for defense purposes. Financing milit ...

and to place a high priority on funding

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

of cutting-edge technologies such as hypersonics and

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

. On August 2, 2019, he signed a memo to department leaders ordering a comprehensive, "zero-based" program and budget review for 2021 to 2025.

Acting Secretary of Defense

Norquist became the acting secretary of defense on January 20, 2021, and served in that role until

Lloyd Austin Lloyd James Austin III (born August 8, 1953) is a retired United States Army four-star general who, since his appointment on January 22, 2021, has served as the 28th United States secretary of defense. He is the first African American to serv ...

, the Biden administration's nominee, was confirmed by the Senate on January 22.

Personal life

Norquist and his wife, Stephanie, have three children. He is the younger brother of

, founder of

Americans for Tax Reform Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is a politically conservative U.S. advocacy group whose stated goal is "a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today." According to ATR, "The government's power to control ...

Publications

*
The Defense Budget. Is It Transformational?
, Joint Force Quarterly (National Defense University publication), Summer 2002.

References

External links

* * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Norquist, David 1966 births American people of Swedish descent Biden administration cabinet members Comptrollers in the United States Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy alumni George W. Bush administration personnel Living people Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni Trump administration personnel United States Deputy Secretaries of Defense United States Under Secretaries of Defense Virginia Republicans