Ryan McCarthy
Secretary of the Army
Ryan D. McCarthy was born in 1973 or 1974. He earned an undergraduate degree in history from the Virginia Military Institute and an MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. He served as a U.S. Army Ranger with the 75th Ranger Regiment during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
He worked at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation before becoming a professional staff member of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He was a special assistant to former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
He joined the Lockheed Martin corporation and worked on programs including the F-35 Lightning II. He went on to become vice president of the sustainment program for the F-35s.
McCarthy was nominated by President Trump to become the Under Secretary of the Army, and, after confirmation by the Senate, he assumed his position in August 2017. President Trump nominated McCarthy to become the Secretary of the Army in June 2019. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate and sworn in on September 30, 2019.
He is married and has one daughter.
In the News…
Nearly 30 soldiers assigned to Fort Hood in Texas have died this year, with five of them being ruled as homicides.
Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy appointed a civilian review committee to help understand the root causes of the violence, particularly after national media attention surrounding the disappearance and death of a 20-year-old Fort Hood soldier earlier this year.
The report finds leadership failures and cultural problems at Fort Hood resulting in harassment, suicides, and homicides. It details the ways leaders maintained a heavy operational tempo while ignoring signs that created a permissive environment for sexual assault and neglected to offer the appropriate resources to victims. The report also documents how the problems date back to at least 2014.
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives are now seeking answers as to whether the problem stretches beyond just Fort Hood.
