Robert F. Hale (born 1947) was the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) The under secretary of defense (comptroller)/chief financial officer, abbreviated USD(C)/CFO, is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Defense. The Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) is the principal staff assist ...

from 2009 until 2014 and before that the Comptroller and Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management. Hale has over thirty years of experience as a professional financial manager serving in a wide range of national defense related roles. In addition to his most recent position as Under Secretary of Defense and his previous appointment as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Hale has also served in the National Security Division of the

Congressional Budget Office The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the United States Congress, legislative branch of the United States government that provides budget and economic information to Congress. Ins ...

and as Executive Director of the American Society of Military Comptrollers. Hale is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a former member of the Defense Business Board. He was appointed to th
National Commission on the Future of the Army
by Representative Adam Smith (D-WA).

Early life

Hale was born on January 21, 1947."Nominations Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, First Session, 111th Congress"
hearing testimony, Senate Armed Services Committee, United States Congress, January 15, 2009, pp. 113-115. He was raised in

Fairfield, California Fairfield is a city in and the county seat of Solano County, California, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay sub-region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is generally considered the midpoint between the cities of San Francisco ...

, graduating from Armijo High School in 1964. He attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

, graduating with honors and receiving a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

statistics Statistics (from German: '' Statistik'', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, indust ...

. He earned a

Master’s degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

operations research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve decis ...

from Stanford, and later a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

from

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

."The Honorable Robert F. Hale Welcome Aboard!", Interview, ''Air Force Comptroller'' (Vol. 28, No. 3), Department of the Air Force, Washington, D.C., July 1, 1994, pp.4-6."Robert F. Hale, Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer"
Official Biography, Officer of the Secretary of Defense, United States Department of Defense, Washington, D.C., April 25, 2009."President-elect Obama announces key Department of Defense posts"
''Press Release'', Office of the President-Elect, ''www.change.gov'', Washington, D.C., January 8, 2009. Hale spent three years on active duty as an officer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, serving first with a Navy security group in

Okinawa, Japan is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

and then in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

After completing his Navy tour in 1972, he took a civilian position at the

Center for Naval Analyses CNA, formerly known as the CNA Corporation, is a federally-funded nonprofit research and analysis organization based in Arlington County, Virginia. CNA has around 625 employees. General CNA operates: * The Center for Naval Analyses. CNA's Cente ...

, serving as an analyst and later a study director."Obama Chooses Hale for Pentagon Position"
''The Hill'', Capitol Hill Publishing Corporation, Washington, D.C., January 7, 2009. In 1975, Hale joined Logistics Management Institute or LMI, a not-for-profit consulting firm specializing in service to the Federal government. He was selected as a fellow of the institute, and eventually, headed LMI’s acquisition and grants management group.

Public service

After leaving

LMI LMI may refer to: * Lenders mortgage insurance * Low and moderate income; see Transit-oriented development * Logistics Management Institute, a consultancy dedicated to improving the business of government * Liberty Media International, a media-com ...

, Hale took a key position at the

, non-partisan agency that supports the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

. During his tenure at the Congressional Budget Office, Hale was responsible for analyzing major defense budget issues. He also frequently testified before

Congressional committees A congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty (rather than the general duties of Congress). Committee membership enables members to develop specialized knowledge of the ...

regarding the results of budget studies conducted by the Congressional Budget Office. He headed the Congressional Budget Office’s National Security Division for twelve year before President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

nominated Hale to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Financial Management and Comptroller). Hale served in the Clinton Administration as the Comptroller and Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management from 1994 to 2001. As chief financial officer for the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

, Hale was responsible for annual budgets of approximately $70 billion. During his tenure, Hale initiated important process changes that streamlined the Air Force’s financial management system to bring it into compliance with the

Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 The Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990 (Public Law 101–576) signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on November 15, 1990, is a United States federal law intended to improve the government's financial management, outlining standard ...

. When he left the Air Force, the American Society of Military Comptrollers selected Hale to be the society's full-time Executive Director. The society offers career development opportunities and financial management training to its 18,000 members. During his tenure as executive director, Hale was a strong advocate for the society's professional certification program, a challenging four part examination leading to recognition as a ''Certified Defense Financial Manager''. Hale planned and conducted the society’s ''National Professional Development Institute'', an annual conference that offers training to over 3,500 participants. He was also responsible for publishing the society’s well respected professional journal, ''Armed Forces Comptroller''.

Defense comptroller

President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

nominated Hale to be Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) on January 9, 2009. During his confirmation hearing on January 15, 2009, Hale reminded the

Senate Armed Services Committee The Committee on Armed Services (sometimes abbreviated SASC for ''Senate Armed Services Committee'') is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Def ...

that he had over thirty years of experience in defense related financial management. The

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

confirmed his appointment on February 9, 2009. As chief financial officer for the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

, Hale is the principal advisor to Secretary of Defense

Chuck Hagel Charles Timothy Hagel ( born October 4, 1946) In a briefing on September 27, 2013, Hale warned that lapse in funding caused by the federal government shutdown of 2013 would cause a delay in military death-benefit payments for the families of U.S. troops killed in action (such as the $100,000 "death gratuity," the burial benefit, and the survivors' housing allowance).Garance Franke-Ruta
Congress Was Warned the Shutdown Would Delay Military Death Benefits
''The Atlantic'' (October 8, 2013). Hale called the situation a "ghoulish" legal consequence of the shutdown. Despite Hale's warnings, "it took until the second week of the crisis for members of Congress to propose doing anything about it." On October 10, 2013, Congress eventually passed a bill authorizing emergency payments to the families of deceased soldiers during the government shutdown, which President Obama signed into law the same day.

Other accomplishments

Hale is a Certified Defense Financial Manager and a past national president of the American Society of Military Comptrollers (1997–1998). He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a former member of the Defense Business Board, a high-level Pentagon advisory panel. Hale was a member of the Task Force on the Future of Military Healthcare, which issued a report in June 2008 on how to create a cost-effective healthcare system for military members and their families. Hale was selected as a ''Booz Allen Fellow'' in November 2014. In that position, he serves as an advisor to the

Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American management and information technology consulting firm, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in Greater Washington, D.C., with 8 ...

corporate leadership.Former DoD Comptroller Bob Hale Selected as Booz Allen Fellow
''Market Watch'', Dow Jones and Company, New York, New York, 3 November 2014.

Awards

Hale has received several prestigious awards for his public service. They include: * Department of Defense Exceptional Public Service Award * Air Force Distinguished Service Award * National Defense Medal

References

External links

U.S. Department of Defense
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hale, Robert F. Living people Stanford University alumni George Washington University School of Business alumni Clinton administration personnel Obama administration personnel United States Under Secretaries of Defense 1947 births People from Fairfield, California American chief financial officers