The United States Secretary of Veterans' Affairs is the head of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the department concerned with veterans' benefits and related matters. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and second to last at 17th in the line of succession to the presidency (the position was last until the addition of the United States Department of Homeland Security in 2006). To date, all appointees and acting appointees to the post have been United States military veterans, but that is not a requirement to fill the position.

Chronological lists

Secretaries

No.	Name	Portrait	Term of Office	President(s) served under
1	Edward Joseph Derwinski		March 15, 1989–September 26, 1992	George H. W. Bush
2	Jesse Brown		January 22, 1993–July 03, 1997	Bill Clinton
3	Togo Dennis West, Jr.		May 05, 1998–July 10, 2000
4	Anthony Joseph Principi		January 23, 2001–January 26, 2005	George W. Bush
5	Robert James Nicholson		January 26, 2005–October 01, 2007
6	James Benjamin Peake		December 20, 2007–present

Acting secretaries

When the post of Secretary is vacant, the United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs or any other person designated by the President serves as Acting Secretary until the President nominates and the United States Senate confirms a new Secretary.

Name	Portrait	Term of Office		President(s) served under
		Start	End
Anthony Joseph Principi		September 26, 1992	January 20, 1993	George H. W. Bush
Hershel Wayne Gober		July 3, 1997	January 2, 1998	Bill Clinton
		July 10, 2000	January 20, 2001
Togo Dennis West, Jr.		January 2, 1998	May 5, 1998
Gordon H. Mansfield		October 1, 2007	December 20, 2007	George W. Bush

Notes & references