Thomas Harker

Thomas Wesley Harker and sworn in on January 2, 2018. He was designated as the acting United States under secretary of defense (comptroller) on June 26, 2020.

On January 20, 2021, Harker was sworn in as the acting secretary of the Navy under President Joe Biden.

Career Prior to becoming acting secretary of the Navy and comptroller for the Department of Defense, Harker served as the associate deputy assistant of financial policy for the Department of Veterans Affairs, financial manager in the Office of Management and Budget, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, and as a commissioned officer in the United States Coast Guard, retiring in the rank of Commander.

At the Office of Management and Budget, Harker led the OMB's "Campaign to Cut Waste", which charged federal agencies with a line-by-line examination of their expenditure budgets.

During his 21 years in the Coast Guard, Harker was responsible for financial reporting, setting policy, overseeing property management and preparing audits. His audit preparation, according to the Association of Government Accountants, led to "clean audit opinions" after 10 successive disclaimers for the Department of Homeland Security.

While on active duty in the Coast Guard, Harker was also involved in drug seizures.

To remove the stigma of seeking mental health counseling, Harker recorded a video in which he said he had sought mental health counseling three times in his life: his parents' divorce, his own divorce; recovery effort involving 80 men, women and children who died in a ferry disaster off the coast of Haiti. In the video, Harker tells sailors, “In the course of your service, you may see and experience things most Americans won’t even think about ... don’t shelve those experiences away.”

To hire more psychiatrists and trained corpsman, Harker requested funds in the current Defense Department budget be reprogramed to invest in mental health to prevent sailor suicide. It was not clear from which DOD budget the money would be reprogrammed, though both the Secretary of Defense and Congress would have to approve any such transfer of funds.

Awards

Coast Guard Meritorious Service Medal Coast Guard Commendation Medal Coast Guard Achievement Medal Association of Government Accountants Achievement of the Year Award