Trump Defense Secretary Esper Joins Squire Patton Boggs

Mark Esper joined Squire Patton Boggs as the former US defense secretary plans to advise clients on national security and foreign policy.

Esper, who is not a lawyer, started as a part-time senior adviser this week. Despite his experience lobbying for defense manufacturer Raytheon Co., he said he won’t advocate for the law firm’s clients in Congress or executive branch agencies.

“There are two sides of the coin: one is public policy expertise and the other is legal expertise,” Esper said in an interview. “I come in with the public policy piece given my 30 years in high levels of government.”

Esper’s move to Squire Patton Boggs comes nearly four years after former President Trump fired him in November of 2020 following disputes that were made public in Esper’s memoir and talk show appearances. Esper broke from Trump when the president proposed invoking the Insurrection Act to crack down on Minneapolis protesters in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a police officer.

Squire Patton Boggs views the hire as a step toward becoming the pre-eminent adviser on national security and foreign policy. The firm when it is ready to announce it formally will have “among the best national security advisement” practices, said Ed Newberry, global managing partner of public policy, compliance, investigatory, and regulatory solutions.

Lawyers at the firm have this year filed Foreign Agent Registration Act notices disclosing work for the president of Angola and the Iraqi embassy. Newberry said Esper may advise foreign governments, but he’s more likely to advise domestic and multinational businesses on the “convergence of economic policy and national security.”

“If you’re a national company or multinational company or a foreign company dealing with the US, there are regulatory regimes around the world they must comply with to do business with the US,” Newberry said.

Trump Criticisms

Since leaving government, Esper has emerged as one of several former Republican officials who has criticized Trump. Esper called him a “threat to democracy” on Real Time with Bill Maher this year and in his 2022 memoir said the former president’s efforts to undermine the 2020 election were a “national embarrassment.”

He pointed out in the interview that his comments about both Trump and President Joe Biden are multi-directional. “I comment favorably and unfavorably on the former president and current president,” he said.

After leaving the Trump administration, Esper joined Washington-based venture capital firm Red Cell Partners as a partner and as chairman of the national security practice. He also joined GLOBSEC, a European think tank, on its international advisory council.

Esper said he plans to retain these positions while at Squire Patton Boggs. “I’m confident I can manage my portfolio,” he said.

Esper’s tenure of slightly more than a year as defense secretary from July 2019 to November 2020 was marked by advancing peace negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan and responding to the Covid pandemic with Operation Warp Speed. He joined the Trump administration in 2017 as Secretary of the Army and was appointed acting defense secretary in June 2019.

Esper is the latest government official to have landed at Squire Patton Boggs, one of Washington’s major players in representing public and private clients in foreign and domestic policy.

In February, firm announced the addition of Bridget McGovern, former Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary. In 2023, Squire Patton Boggs recruited former US Ambassador Paul Jones and deputy director of the National Economic Council Everett Eissenstat. In 2016, former US House Speaker John Boehner joined the firm.