Mark William Lippert (born February 28, 1973) is an American diplomat who has worked as the vice president for international affairs at Boeing in 2017. He later was appointed Executive Vice President, Samsung Electronics America. He previously served as the United States Ambassador to South Korea from 2014 to 2017. Prior to his tour as an ambassador, Lippert had served as Chief of Staff for Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Chief of Staff for the National Security Council, and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs in the Department of Defense. On March 5, 2015, he was attacked by a man wielding a knife in South Korea.
Early life and education
Lippert was born in and grew up in Mariemont, Ohio, a suburb just outside Cincinnati. He is the son of Susan (Bridges) and James William Lippert, a lawyer. Lippert graduated from Stanford University where he studied political science as an undergraduate and received a master's degree in international policy studies. While in graduate school at Stanford, he studied Mandarin Chinese at Peking University as part of a study abroad program. As a result, Lippert is known in Mandarin as Lee Mokai (), the Chinese name he chose for himself during his stay in Beijing.
Career
Prior to 1999, he worked at the State Department and for California Senator Dianne Feinstein. Lippert was a defense and foreign policy advisor to then Senator and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and the Senate Democratic Policy Committee from 1999 to October 2000. He then served as a researcher for Senator Patrick Leahy from October 2000 to February 2001. Lippert served on the professional staff of the Senate Appropriations Committee, State–Foreign Operations Subcommittee, from February 2001 to June 2005. In June 2005, he became a foreign policy advisor to then Senator Barack Obama, who was then serving on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. He was recruited by Senator Obama's Chief of Staff, Pete Rouse, who served as Counselor to the President through 2013.
Lippert was also commissioned into the Navy Reserve in 2005 through the Navy's direct commission officer program as an intelligence officer. From August 2007 until June 2008, he served about a year in what had been scheduled as a nine-month tour of duty in Iraq as an intelligence officer with the Navy SEALs. He received a Bronze Star Medal for his service in Iraq.
After he returned from Iraq, Lippert served as a senior foreign policy advisor to then-Senator Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. He was responsible for briefing Obama on emerging foreign policy issues throughout the campaign. He helped prepare Obama on foreign policy for the presidential debates. Lippert later served as deputy director for foreign policy for the Obama–Biden Transition Project.
Throughout his time in the Senate and during the presidential campaign, Lippert was noted for having a close relationship with then Senator Obama. He is credited for helping Obama develop his views on defense and foreign policy, particularly his support for a withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, which was completed under President Obama in December 2011 as well as Obama's emphasis on transnational security issues, such as genocide and weapons of mass destruction.
Obama administration
Following Obama's inauguration in January 2009, he was appointed Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff for the National Security Council, a position which had not existed in the Bush administration, but had existed in previous administrations. During his time as chief of staff, Lippert oversaw the merger of the staffs of the Homeland Security Council, which had been created in October 2001 by President Bush, and the National Security Council, into a single National Security Staff. Unlike his recent predecessors, then-National Security Advisor General Jim Jones delegated much of the day-to-day responsibilities for the National Security Council to his deputy, Tom Donilon, and to a couple of Obama campaign veterans, including Denis McDonough and Mark Lippert.
In October 2009, Lippert resigned from the National Security Council to return to active duty in the Navy. There was speculation surrounding Lippert's resignation that he was pushed to leave due to significant disagreements with General Jones, especially with respect to the troop surge. Jones accused Lippert of leaking information about him to Bob Woodward for Obama's Wars. Lippert was succeeded by Denis McDonough, who would go on to later serve as Deputy National Security Advisor, then White House Chief of Staff. Lippert had originally recruited McDonough to serve as then-Senator Obama's foreign policy advisor during his 2007 deployment to Iraq.