Congressional staffer and George W. Bush administration official Wilkie was a longtime Republican
congressional staffer. He later moved to
the Pentagon, Wilkie holds personal and unit decorations as well as the
Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the highest civilian award of the Department.
Private sector and return to congressional staff From 2010 to 2015, Wilkie was vice president for strategic programs for
CH2M Hill, an engineering company. According to his official biography, he worked on reform of
Britain's
Ministry of Defence supply and logistics system. In 2019, after the resignation of
Jim Mattis, Wilkie lobbied the Trump White House for an appointment as
Secretary of Defense, but was not chosen for the position.
First Trump administration Wilkie worked on
Donald Trump's presidential transition team. President Trump nominated Wilkie to the post of Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness in July 2017. The Senate confirmed the nomination by
unanimous consent on November 16, 2017. On March 28, 2018,
Trump announced via Twitter that Wilkie would serve as interim Secretary of Veterans Affairs until the Senate confirmed a successor.
VA inspector general investigation and report The
VA Office of Inspector General (IG) determined that Wilkie and his senior staff sought to discredit a woman who reported being sexually assaulted by a contractor at the D.C. Medical Center (the flagship
VA hospital in Washington, D.C.) and impugn her credibility. The woman, a
U.S. Navy veteran and an aide to the
House Veterans' Affairs Committee, made the report in the fall of 2019; prosecutors declined to file sexual assault charges. Byrne later said he was fired because he declined to participate in an effort by Wilkie to smear the woman, telling
Stars & Stripes, "I've gotten crossways with Wilkie over the [sexual assault] matter by refusing to trash this woman." In a 68-page report issued in December 2020, VA IG
Michael J. Missal determined that "The tone set by Secretary Wilkie was at minimum unprofessional and at worst provided the basis for VA leaders' attempts to undermine the veteran's credibility" and concluded that "Using denigrating remarks and questioning the credibility of a veteran who reported being sexually assaulted, and then failing to fully explore the facts, is ... contrary to the ongoing missions of improving VA and of serving the veteran community with respect." Wilkie denied all wrongdoing.
Pro-Confederate speeches In a 1995 speech at the U.S. Capitol's statue of Jefferson Davis, Wilkie called
Confederate President Jefferson Davis a "martyr to 'The
Lost Cause'" and an "exceptional man in an exceptional age"; in a pro-Confederate event in 2009, Wilkie spoke about
Robert E. Lee to the
Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). He also called
abolitionists who opposed slavery "radical", "mendacious", and "enemies of liberty", and stated that the Confederate "cause was honorable," while also condemning
slavery as "a stain on our story as it is a stain on every civilization in history". Wilkie is a former member of the SCV and its Confederate Memorial Committee, having been listed as a member at least through 2010; In June 2018, a Defense Department spokesperson said that Wilkie no longer considered himself a member of the group. During Wilkie's confirmation hearings to be VA secretary, he gave inaccurate answers to Senators regarding the dates of his speaking to Confederate groups. In sworn statements to the Senate as part of the nomination questionnaire, he failed to include his membership in the SCV and omitted his event speeches from responses asking for details on them. Wilkie said that "erasing these headstones removes them from memory", that "divisive historical figures or events" should be recognized, and that removal would require a lengthy process under the
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. ==Personal life==