With a vote of 90-8 by the Senate on July 23rd, Mark Esper, 55 years old, has officially become the US Defense Secretary.
He served as Secretary of the Army in 2017. After that, he was nominated to be acting secretary of defense after Patrick Shanahan stepped down in June.
The position of US Defense Secretary was left unoccupied after James Matties stepped down last December. This is the record-length vacancy of this position in the history of Pentagon.
