Sergio de la Peña is an American politician and retired United States Army colonel who was deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs during the Trump administration.[1]

Sergio de la Peña
BornChihuahua City, Mexico
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Army
RankColonel
EducationUniversity of Iowa (BS)
United States Army Command and General Staff College (MA)
Political partyRepublican

Career edit

 
De la Peña and a U.S. Navy captain in Honduras in 2018

De la Peña retired from the Army as a colonel. During his career, he was also a division chief of the U.S. Northern Command.[2] De la Peña worked for the private military contractor L-3 before founding[3][2] de la Peña Consulting, LLC in June 2011.[2] He spent five years leading the consultancy.[3]

De la Peña was surrogate for the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign,[2][3] and was then part of the Trump transition team assigned to the United States Department of Defense.[3] In 2017, Defense Secretary James Mattis appointed De la Peña as deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Western Hemisphere.[3][2]

2021 Virginia gubernatorial election edit

On January 11, 2021, de la Peña announced his candidacy as a Republican candidate for the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ "Ex-Trump appointee to Pentagon seeks GOP nomination for Virginia governor". The Washington Post. 12 January 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e "On Trump's Latin America team: Carlos Trujillo's nomination moves forward in the Senate". Global Americans. 2020-08-04. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  3. ^ a b c d e Kheel, Rebecca (2017-05-18). "Defense chief appoints three senior officials". The Hill. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  4. ^ "Sergio de la Peña announces he is running for Virginia Governor". WFXR News. 12 January 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2021.