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Robert G. Salesses

Director of Administration and Management

 

Mr. Robert G. Salesses serves as the Director of Administration and Management (DA&M).  As a Principal Staff Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, the DA&M advises and implements organizational and management actions to improve the effective functioning of the DoD enterprise.  The DA&M oversees the Pentagon Reservation, including the Raven Rock Mountain Complex, and DoD leased facilities throughout the National Capitol Region ensuring the safety and security of employees and the operational readiness and resilience of the Reservation to meet DoD’s national security missions.  He oversees the financial, contracting, personnel, security and administrative services support to OSD, selected Defense Agencies and Defense Field Activities, and DoD personnel in the National Capital Region; and supervises Washington Headquarters Services and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency.  As the Performance Improvement Officer, Mr. Salesses, advises and assists the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense in ensuring that the Department’s mission and goals are achieved through strategic planning, analysis and performance measurement. 

Mr. Salesses, performed the duties of the Deputy Secretary of Defense (January to March 2025), leading the Department’s $850B Programing and Budgeting process during a critical period.  He analyzed and refocused the Departments budget to meet the President’s and Secretary of Defense’s priorities.  He also managed the Department’s implementation of the President’s executive orders and memorandums; conducted reviews of nationally significant programs; and implemented actions to rapidly achieve the Secretary of Defense’s priority defense and national security objectives. 

In January 2025, President Trump appointed Mr. Salesses, the Acting Secretary of Defense.  He led the Department of Defense during a vital period of the Presidential transition, where he directed the military forces of the Department in the execution of their global national security and defense missions. He directed the rapid deployment of military forces to the southwest border of the United States reducing the flow of illegal crossings to historical lows.

Prior to this appointment, Mr. Salesses, served as Deputy Director, Washington Headquarters Services, a Department of Defense Field Activity.  In this assignment was responsible for managing a portfolio of complex and integrated operational services to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Military Departments, Defense Agencies, Congress, and the Executive Office of the President.  Managing resources of nearly $1.2 billion annually, he oversaw the efforts of nearly 4,000 civilian, military, and contractor personnel who provide a full range of financial, contracting, security, human resources, facility management, continuity of operations, and other services that support nearly 100,000 Department of Defense personnel in the National Capital Region.

Mr. Salesses, served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Defense Continuity and Mission Assurance, where he led several of DoD’s most sensitive functions, ensuring the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and senior department leadership possessed the means to execute DoD’s primary mission essential functions.  He oversaw the Department’s mission assurance, force protection, domestic counterterrorism, and continuity policies and programs.  His responsibilities included leading these risk management program activities across the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government, and with state, local, and private sector partner’s strengthening the protection and resilience of DoD’s people, infrastructure, and continuity missions.  During the Russia-Ukraine crisis he led DoD’s national level protection actions to reduce risk to the homeland.

Mr. Salesses, served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Homeland Defense Integration and Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA), where he was the principal career civilian advisor to eight Secretaries of Defense.  In this position for well over a decade, he was a key architect transforming the Department’s homeland defense mission to counter evolving national security threats.  As one of the Nation’s foremost experts on the DSCA mission, he led the DoD response to every major domestic event during that period, frequently addressing multiple, simultaneous crises and contingency events, improving the speed and effectiveness of DoD’s support to the Nation’s citizens in their time of greatest need.  He initiated and directed the Department’s COVID Task Force, integrating DoD’s efforts to protect its people, their families, safeguard national security capabilities, and support the Whole-of-Nation response to this unprecedented public health crisis.

Working at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, within weeks of the attack, Mr. Salesses, was assigned as a Special Assistant to the Homeland Security Task Force.  He began his Federal civilian service career shortly after and led the development of the first national and DoD strategic policies for Homeland Security and Defense.  Working with Congress and the Executive Office of the President he architected new DoD organizational elements (Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland and U.S. NORTHCOM), improving the strategic and operational planning of the military in defense of the homeland and support to civil authorities.  His efforts provide the foundational structures and national plans to better defend the nation.  He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2005.  He has been awarded the DoD Distinguished, Meritorious, and Exceptional Civilian Service Awards and the Armed Forces Civilian Service Medal.  He was awarded the Presidential Rank Award twice for his decisive leadership, vital program management skills, and significant contributions to national security.

Mr. Salesses, is a retired United States Marine Corps officer whose career encompassed global planning and execution of multiple, internationally significant plans and contingencies that included: the withdrawal of critical nuclear stockpiles from former Soviet States; the development of multinational counternarcotics policies and plans with Central and South American allies; and crisis planning and consequence management response options within the European and Pacific theaters of operation; and the liberation of Kuwait during the Gulf War, where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.  Mr. Salesses, military career culminated in his assignment to the Joint Staff where he worked response options for global contingency missions.

Mr. Salesses is a graduate of Rhode Island College, with a Bachelor of Arts in Management and Economics.  He received a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College.

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