Sergio de la Peña is an American politician and retired

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

colonel who was deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs during the

Trump administration Presidency of Donald Trump may refer to: * First presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration from 2017 to 2021 * Second presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration since 2025 See also * ...

Career

De la Peña retired from the Army as a colonel. During his career, he was also a division chief of the

U.S. Northern Command The United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is one of eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense. The command is tasked with providing military support for non-military authorities in the U.S., and pr ...

. De la Peña worked for the private military contractor L-3 before founding de la Peña Consulting, LLC in June 2011. He spent five years leading the consultancy. De la Peña was surrogate for the

Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign Donald Trump ran a successful campaign for the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He formally announced his campaign on June 16, 2015, at Trump Tower in New York City, initially battling for the Republican Party's nomination. On May 26, 20 ...

, and was then part of the Trump transition team assigned to the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

. In 2017, Defense Secretary

James Mattis James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is an American military officer who served as the 26th United States secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. A retired Marine Corps four-star general, he commanded forces in the Persian Gulf War, th ...

appointed De la Peña as deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Western Hemisphere.

2021 Virginia gubernatorial election

On January 11, 2021, de la Peña announced his candidacy as a Republican candidate for the

2021 Virginia gubernatorial election The 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the next governor of Virginia. The election was concurrent with 2021 Virginia elections, other elections for Virginia state offices. Incumbent Democratic Party (U ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pena, Sergio de la Living people People from Chihuahua City People from Roswell, New Mexico University of Iowa alumni United States Army Command and General Staff College alumni Virginia Republicans Candidates in the 2021 United States elections Mexican emigrants to the United States Year of birth missing (living people) Latino conservatism in the United States Politicians from Roswell, New Mexico Politicians from Chihuahua (state) Military personnel from Chihuahua (state)