John Hamre

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American academic

title: "John Hamre" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1950-births", "living-people", "american-people-of-norwegian-descent", "people-from-watertown,-south-dakota", "people-from-clark,-south-dakota", "augustana-university-alumni", "harvard-divinity-school-alumni", "paul-h.-nitze-school-of-advanced-international-studies-alumni", "american-international-relations-scholars", "american-political-scientists", "clinton-administration-personnel", "employees-of-the-united-states-congress", "obama-administration-personnel", "people-from-bethesda,-maryland", "united-states-under-secretaries-of-defense", "united-states-deputy-secretaries-of-defense", "american-chief-executives", "csis-people"] description: "American academic" topic_path: "politics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hamre" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American academic ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	John Hamre
image	Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre, official portrait.jpg
alt	Secretary of Defense, John Hamre
office	26th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
president	Bill Clinton
term_start	July 29, 1997
term_end	March 31, 2000
predecessor	John P. White
successor	Rudy de Leon
office1	Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/CFO
president1	Bill Clinton
term_start1	26 October 1993
term_end1	July 29, 1997
predecessor1	Sean O'Keefe
successor1	William J. Lynn III
birth_date
birth_place	Watertown, South Dakota, U.S.
party	Republican
spouse
education	Augustana College, South Dakota (BA)
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University (MA, PhD)
website
::

Early life and education

Hamre is the son of Melvin Sanders and Ruth Lucile (Larson) Hamre. He attended primary and secondary school in Clark, South Dakota, He earned a B.A. (with high distinction) in political science and economics from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota (1972). His doctoral thesis was entitled Congressional Dissent and American Foreign Policy: Constitutional War-Making in the Vietnam Years.

Federal government service

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Ash_Carter,_Sam_Nunn_and_John_J._Hamre.jpg" caption="John Hamre (right) with [[Ash Carter]] (center) and [[Sam Nunn"] ::

Hamre served in the Congressional Budget Office (1978–1984), where he became its deputy assistant director for national security and international affairs. In that position, he oversaw analysis and other support for committees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. In the 1980s, he worked for ten years at the Senate Armed Services Committee. During that time, he was primarily responsible for the oversight and evaluation of procurement, research and development programs, defense budget issues, and relations with the Senate Appropriations Committee. |url=http://csis.org/expert/john-j-hamre|publisher=Center for Strategic and International Studies |title=John J. Hamre Center for Strategic and International Studies |access-date=2009-11-10}}

Hamre was DoD Comptroller (1993–1997) and Deputy Secretary of Defense (1997–1999), both under President Bill Clinton.

The Senate appointed Hamre to the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry in 2001. |url=http://www.militaryfamiliesunited.org/sites/default/files/John%20Hamre.pdf |title=President Obama Appointee Profile - John Hamre |access-date=2009-11-10 |date=January 23, 2009 |publisher=Military Families United |pages=3–7}}

Post-Federal Government Service

Hamre worked on the Obama transition team. He is chairman of the Defense Policy Board. Hamre's continued involvement in the defense establishment has put him on the short list for the position of Secretary of Defense multiple times, including during the formation of the first term of the Obama administration and most recently after the president's re-election in 2012.

In July 2022, Hamre helped found a group of U.S. business and policy leaders who shared the goal of constructively engaging with China in order to improve U.S.-China relations.

Honors

In 2008, the Norwegian King Harald V appointed Hamre Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit for his efforts "to promote collaboration between Norwegian and American politicians, authorities and researchers".

Publications (partial list)

{{cite book |title=U.S. airlift forces : enhancement alternatives for NATO and non-NATO contingencies |publisher=Congressional Budget Office |location=Washington, D.C. |year=1979 |last1=Hamre |first1=John J. |author-link1=John Hamre|lccn=79601973}}
{{cite book |title=Strategic command, control, and communications : alternative approaches for modernization |publisher=Congressional Budget Office |location=Washington, D.C. |year=1981 |last1=Hamre |first1=John J. |author-link1=John Hamre|lccn=81603396}}
{{cite book |last1=R. B. |first1=Byers |author-link1=R. B. Byers |last2=Hamre |first2=John J. |first3=George |last3=Lindsey |title=Aerospace defence: Canada's future role? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uyqGAAAAMAAJ&q=%22John+Hamre%22 |access-date=2009-11-10 |edition=paperback |year=1985 |publisher=Canadian Institute of International Affairs |location=Toronto, Ontario |isbn=0-919084-52-4|lccn=85154659}}
{{cite journal |first=John J. |last=Hamre |author-link=John Hamre |author2=Gordon R. Sullivan |author2-link=Gordon R. Sullivan |access-date=2009-11-10 |title=Toward Postconflict Reconstruction |url=http://www.thewashingtonquarterly.com/02autumn/hamre.pdf |journal=The Washington Quarterly |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=85–96 |date=Autumn 2002 |doi=10.1162/016366002760252554 |s2cid=154993245 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717042424/http://www.thewashingtonquarterly.com/02autumn/hamre.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-17

References

(2011-05-16). "III. Deputy Secretaries of Defense".
(1994). "Nominations Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, First Session, 103d Congress: Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate". U.S. Government Printing Office.
(1998). "Nominations Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, First Session, 105th Congress: Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate". U.S. Government Printing Office.
Baker, Peter. (November 18, 2008). "The New Team - John J. Hamre". [[New York Times]].
(July 31, 1997). "DefenseLink News Article: Biography: John J. Hamre, Deputy Defense Secretary". [[American Forces Press Service]] [[DefenseLink]].
(2009). "Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale". Fee, via [[Fairfax County Public Library]].
(May 26, 1978). "Conferring of Degrees at the Close of the 102nd Academic Year". The Johns Hopkins University.
(2010-07-30). "Who will be the next secretary of defense? | Foreign Policy".
(2022-07-07). "We Want to Rebuild U.S. Relations With China - WSJ". Wall Street Journal.
(18 January 2008). "John Hamre Appointed Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit". [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Norway)]].

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