The Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, abbreviated USD(C)/CFO or C/CFO, is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Defense. The Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/CFO is the principal staff assistant and adviser to both the Secretary of Defense and the Deputy Secretary of Defense for all budgetary and fiscal matters, including the development and execution of the Defense Department's annual budget.

The Under Secretary is appointed by the president and confirmed by the United States Senate to serve at the pleasure of the president.

The position of Defense Department Comptroller/CFO was originally at the rank of Assistant Secretary until the National Defense Authorization Act of 1995 upgraded the position to its current rank of Under Secretary.

Overview The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/CFO is the principal staff office for the Defense Department on all budgetary and fiscal matters, including the development and execution of the Defense Department's annual budget of more than $850 billion. As chief financial officer, the Under Secretary's Office also oversees the Department's financial policy, financial management systems, and business modernization efforts.

The Under Secretary is chair of the Financial Management Modernization Executive Committee, which has the goal of making sure that each of the Department of Defense's critical accounting, financial, and data feeder systems are compliant with applicable federal financial management and reporting requirements. The Comptroller is also a member of the Defense Business System Management Committee.

With the rank of Under Secretary, the USD(C)/CFO is a Level III position within the Executive Schedule. Since January 2019, the annual rate of pay for Level III is $176,900.

Reporting officials Officials reporting to the USD(C) include: Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Director, Defense Contract Audit Agency Director, Defense Finance and Accounting Service Deputy Comptroller (Program/Budget) Deputy Chief Financial Officer Deputy Comptroller (Budget and Appropriation Affairs) Executive Director, Business Operations

The Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), abbreviated DUSD(C), is the USD(C)/CFO's chief deputy and assumes the duties of the USD(C)/CFO in his or her absence. Pursuant to Public Law 111-84, the DUSD(C) is appointed from civilian life by the president of the United States with the consent of the Senate.

Budget

Budget features Comptroller Initiatives - Support for producing and providing senior Department leadership with authoritative, accurate, and timely financial statements and support Department-wide business transformation efforts by improving financial management processes, systems, and financial reporting. This funding appears to support the programs of the Defense Contract Audit Agency and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) Improvement - Maintain the FYDP information system used to collect, transform, disseminate, build reports, and provide analytical displays for planning, programming, budgeting, and execution activities Administrative Support - Funds services including general office support, data administration, records management, workflow and correspondence tracking, and other administrative tasks Next Generation Resource Management System (NGRMS) - Maintain IT system used to formulate, justify, present, and defend the DoD budget, including equipment maintenance support, software upgrades, and software licenses Enterprise Funds Distribution System Support (EFDSS) - Maintain IT system used for controlling and distributing funds, including equipment maintenance support, software upgrades, and software licenses

Office holders

The table below includes both the various titles of this post over time, as well as all the holders of those offices.

+ Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller/Chief Financial Officer) Portrait Name Tenure SecDef(s) served under President(s) served under Assistant Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Wilfred J. McNeil 12 September 1949 – 1 November 1959 Louis A. Johnson George C. Marshall Robert A. Lovett Charles E. Wilson Neil H. McElroy Harry Truman Dwight Eisenhower Franklin B. Lincoln 2 December 1959 – 20 January 1961 Thomas S. Gates Dwight Eisenhower Charles J. Hitch 17 February 1961 – 31 July 1965 Robert S. McNamara John F. Kennedy Lyndon Johnson Robert N. Anthony 10 September 1965 – 31 July 1968 Robert S. McNamara Clark M. Clifford Lyndon Johnson Robert C. Moot 1 August 1968 – 9 January 1973 Clark M. Clifford Melvin R. Laird Lyndon Johnson Richard Nixon Don R. Brazier (Acting) 10 January 1973 – 20 January 1973 Melvin R. Laird Richard Nixon Terence E. McClary 21 June 1973 – 31 August 1976 James R. Schlesinger Donald H. Rumsfeld Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Fred P. Wacker 1 September 1976 – 29 February 1980 Donald H. Rumsfeld Harold Brown Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter Jack R. Borsting 12 August 1980 – 31 December 1982 Harold Brown Caspar W. Weinberger Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan John R. Quetsch (Acting) 1 January 1983 – 23 February 1983 Caspar W. Weinberger Ronald Reagan Vincent Puritano 24 February 1983 – 30 May 1984 John R. Quetsch (acting) 31 May 1984 – 14 August 1984 Robert W. Helm 16 August 1984 – 1 October 1986 Department of Defense Comptroller Robert W. Helm 1 October 1986 – 1 September 1988 Caspar W. Weinberger Frank C. Carlucci III Ronald Reagan Clyde O. Glaister 17 October 1988 – 22 May 1989 Frank C. Carlucci III William H. Taft IV (Acting) Richard B. Cheney Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush Sean O'Keefe 22 May 1989 – 7 July 1992 Richard B. Cheney George H. W. Bush Donald B. Shycoff (Acting) 8 July 1992 – 2 April 1993 Richard B. Cheney Leslie Aspin, Jr. George H. W. Bush William Clinton Alice C. Maroni (Acting) 6 May 1993 – 26 October 1993 Leslie Aspin, Jr. William Clinton John J. Hamre 26 October 1993 – 5 September 1994 Leslie Aspin, Jr. William J. Perry Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer John J. Hamre 5 September 1994 – 29 July 1997 William J. Perry Bill Clinton William S. Cohen William J. Lynn 19 November 1997 – 19 January 2001 William S. Cohen Dov S. Zakheim 3 May 2001 – 15 July 2004 Donald H. Rumsfeld George W. Bush Lawrence J. Lanzillotta (Acting) 15 July 2004 – 27 July 2004 Tina W. Jonas 27 July 2004 - 26 September 2008 Robert M. Gates Douglas A. Brook (Acting) 26 September 2008 – 20 January 2009 Robert F. Hale 9 February 2009 – 27 June 2014 Barack Obama Leon Panetta Chuck Hagel Michael J. McCord 27 June 2014 – 20 January 2017 Ash Carter John P. Roth (Acting) 20 January 2017 – 1 June 2017 James Mattis Donald Trump David Norquist 2 June 2017 – 31 July 2019 James MattisPatrick M. Shanahan (Acting) Elaine McCusker (Acting) 31 July 2019 – 26 June 2020 Mark Esper Thomas Harker (Acting) 26 June 2020 – 9 April 2021 Anne McAndrew (Acting) 9 April 2021 – 3 June 2021 Lloyd Austin Joe BidenMichael J. McCord3 June 2021 – 20 January 2025 Bryn Woollacott MacDonnell (Acting) 20 January 2025 – 9 August 2025 Pete Hegseth Donald Trump Jules W. Hurst III (Acting) 11 August 2025 – 20 May 2026 Michael T. Powers (Acting) 20 May 2026 – August 12, 2026 Jules W. Hurst III 12 August 2026 – Present

References

External links comptroller.defense.gov