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Don Rumsfeld -- Department of Defense
Secretary of Defense

Prior to being sworn in as the 21st Secretary of Defense, Secretary Rumsfeld was in private business. He served on a number of boards, including service as non-executive Chairman of Gilead Sciences, Inc. Previously, he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Instrument Corporation from 1990 to 1993. From 1977 to 1985, he served as Chief Executive Officer, President and then Chairman of G.D. Searle & Co., a worldwide pharmaceutical company. Secretary Rumfeld held a variety of positions in the Ford and Nixon Administrations. From 1974 until 1977, he served under President Ford as the youngest Secretary of Defense in the country's history, Chief of Staff of the White House and Chairman of the transition to the Presidency of Gerald R. Ford. From 1969 to 1974, he served President Nixon as U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Director of the Economic Stabilization Program and Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois in 1962, at the age of 30, and was re-elected in 1964, 1966 and 1968. Secretary Rumsfeld was a naval aviator from 1954 to 1957. He is a graduate of Princeton University.

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