Laura Katherine Cooper is an American

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

. Ms. Cooper is the 2023 Federal Employee of the Year ( Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals), awarded by the nonprofit, nonpartisan

Partnership for Public Service The Partnership for Public Service is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Washington, D.C. whose mission is to inspire a new generation of civil servants and to transform the way government works. The Partnership's programs include ...

to celebrate excellence in the U.S. federal civil service. She is

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spai ...

for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian affairs in the office of the

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy The United States under secretary of defense for policy (USDP) is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Defense. The under secretary of defense for policy is the principal staff assistant and adviser to both the Unite ...

, and a career member of the

Senior Executive Service The Senior Executive Service (SES) is a position classification in the United States federal civil service equivalent to general officer or flag officer rank in the U.S. Armed Forces. It was created in 1979 when the Civil Service Reform Act of ...

(SES). In 2023, she was honored with the Presidential Rank Distinguished Executive Award, the highest annual award for career SES members. She previously served as principal director in the office of the Homeland Defense and Global Security Affairs. Cooper testified to the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

's House Intelligence Committee during a closed-door hearing on October 23, 2019; this committee gathered information relevant to impeachment proceedings involving U.S. 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 ...

. She also testified on November 20, 2019, in an open hearing to that same committee.

Education

Cooper is a 1992 graduate of Cor Jesu Academy high school and attended St. Margaret Mary Alacoque school in south

St. Louis County, Missouri St. Louis County is located in eastern Missouri. It is bounded by the City of St. Louis and the Mississippi River to the east, the Missouri River to the north, and the Meramec River to the south. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1, ...

. Cooper attended

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, receiving a Bachelor of Arts. She received a master's degree from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

Foreign Service Foreign Service may refer to: * Diplomatic service, the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country * United States Foreign Service, the diplomatic service of the United States government **Foreign Service ...

, and a Master of Science in National Resource Strategy from the

National Defense University National Defence (or Defense) University (or College) may refer to: :''Alphabetical by country'' University * Marshal Fahim National Defense University, Afghanistan * National Defense University (Azerbaijan) * People's Liberation Army National Defe ...

Career

Before joining the

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

(DOD) in 2001, she had been a policy planning officer for the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

and a Junior Fellow at the

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the United States. Foun ...

. A prior assignment in the DOD had been as

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Team Chief, Stability Operations Office, responsible for stability and security. In 2004 she presciently noted that to achieve these objectives, the efforts had to be enduring, with no end in sight. She identified the major needs to reach these goals: the Ministry of Defense and the

Afghan National Army The Islamic National Army (, ), also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Army and the Afghan Army, is the army, land force branch of the Afghan Armed Forces. The roots of an army in Afghanistan can be traced back to the early 18th century when th ...

needed to be reformed and rebuilt to counter the resurgent

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

and the powerful

warlords Warlords are individuals who exercise military, economic, and political control over a region, often one without a strong central or national government, typically through informal control over local armed forces. Warlords have existed throug ...

; a police force was needed to combat crime; the justice system had to be assisted to ensure the

rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

; prisons had to be built. Described as a "senior U.S. Department of Defense official", Cooper has been involved in multiple U.S.–Eurasian defense negotiations. She has described the Russian intervention in Ukraine as "a brazen violation of

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

" after Ukrainian vessels were attacked by Russia in late November 2018. Cooper has been supportive of continued military aid to Ukraine. During a 2018 visit to Ukraine, she noted that Congress had authorized money for military aid, and she said that "one of my goals on this visit was to discuss with the

Government of Ukraine The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (), commonly referred to as the Government of Ukraine (), is the highest body of state Executive (government), executive power in Ukraine. As the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republi ...

what its priority needs are for security assistance." She met with Ukrainian Minister of Defence Stepan Poltorak to define measures of bilateral cooperation for defense. Cooper was the Pentagon official in charge of the aid package; she confirmed in December 2018 that the U.S. would have a comprehensive response to Russian aggression. In a video message Cooper said that Ukraine "can count on the U.S. to remain your strong partner" in strengthening its military. There is consensus that her assurances to the Ukrainians demonstrated that she expected the funds to be released in early 2019. Her testimony was sought by the Congressional committees leading the

impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump The inquiry process which preceded the first impeachment of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States, was initiated by then- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on September 24, 2019, after a whistleblower alleged that Donald Trump may ...

in matters relating to the Trump–Ukraine scandal. On October 23, 2019, in defiance to a

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

letter warning her not to appear before the impeachment inquiry, Cooper testified in a closed-door deposition before congressional committees. After a five-hour delay due to a protest by Republican members of Congress, Cooper completed a 3.5-hour deposition in which she explained the process for transferring military aid to Ukraine. During a public hearing on November 20, 2019, Cooper testified to the U.S House of Representatives that Ukrainian officials knew about the hold on military aid by July 25, the day of the Trump–Zelensky call, undercutting an assertion that there could not have been a ''quid pro quo'' because Ukraine was not aware of the hold.

Awards

* Federal Employee of the Year ( Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals), awarded by the nonprofit, nonpartisan

to celebrate excellence in the U.S. federal civil service. * Presidential Rank Distinguished Executive Award, the highest annual award for career SES members. *

Order of Princess Olga The Order of Princess Olga () is a Ukraine, Ukrainian civil decoration, featuring Olga of Kiev and bestowed to women for "personal merits in state, production, scientific, educational, cultural, charity and other spheres of social activities, fo ...

presented by Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

. * Banned from Travel to Russia by the Russian Foreign Ministry . *

Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award The Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award is the highest civilian award given by the United States Department of Defense. This award and accompanying Distinguished Civilian Service Medal is the department's highest award given ...

(Bronze Palm) *

Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Award The Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service is the United States Office of the Secretary of Defense’s (OSD) highest level career medaled award. Career civilian employees of the OSD, the United States Departm ...

(Bronze Palm) *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Laura American women civil servants Georgetown University people National Defense University alumni Northwestern University alumni First Trump administration personnel Biden administration personnel United States Department of Defense officials Women government officials Living people Recipients of the Order of Princess Olga, 2nd class