Elaine A. McCusker is an American government official who served as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), one of the offices of United States Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, from 2017 to 2020. McCusker was nominated by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

to become United States Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense in April 2017 and was confirmed on August 1, 2017. In November 2019, the White House announced that McCusker would be nominated to succeed David Norquist as the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller). On March 2, 2020 it was reported that her nomination was being withdrawn by the White House following reports that in 2019 she had warned that freezing military aid to Ukraine might not be legal.

Early life

McCusker is from

Pekin, Illinois Pekin ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tazewell County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located on the Illinois River, Pekin is the largest city of Tazewell County and the second most populous municipality of the Peoria metropolitan area ...

, one of the daughters of William and Kathleen Brown McCusker. Her father was chairman of the board of the Illinois Federation for Right to Life. She is a graduate of Peoria Notre Dame High School and Illinois Central College. In 1989 she received a Bachelor of Arts in political philosophy from the

University of Dallas The University of Dallas is a Private university, private Catholic church, Catholic university in Irving, Texas, United States. Established in 1956, it is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Southern Associat ...

, Texas.

Career

McCusker previously worked for the United States Energy Department's

Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Lemont, Illinois, Lemont, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1946, the laboratory is owned by the United Sta ...

, the

United States Senate Committee on Armed Services The Committee on Armed Services, sometimes abbreviated SASC for Senate Armed Services Committee, is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with Congressional oversight, legislative oversight of the Military of the United States, ...

, the Pentagon Comptroller's office, and the Navy Department. At the Navy Department, she was a special assistant for the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle program. McCusker contributed to announcements in September 2019 regarding Trump's plan to divert Pentagon funds to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. McCusker announced wall construction could begin as within three months on federally owned land. Construction of the wall on other government or privately owned land would commence at a later date, she noted. McCusker was identified as one of the federal officials with knowledge of President Trump's effort to keep Ukraine from receiving aid authorized by Congress. Emails that she sent and received regarding the matter were included in documents obtained by the Center for Public Integrity in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Michael Duffey, a political appointee in White House's

Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The office's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, while it also examines agency pro ...

(OMB), emailed McCusker and others an hour and a half after Trump's call with Ukrainian leader Zelenksy, requesting they "hold off" on distributing aid to Ukraine. McCusker then sent emails to the OMB expressing concern that by withholding funds from Ukraine, the White House was violating the Impoundment Control Act, which requires that the executive branch spend appropriations that have been approved by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. On June 16, 2020, she announced her resignation as Deputy Under Secretary, effective June 26.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCusker, Elaine Living people People from Pekin, Illinois Illinois Central College alumni University of Dallas alumni First Trump administration personnel United States Department of Defense officials Women government officials Year of birth missing (living people)

Early life

Career

See also

References