Anthony Tata

Anthony Jean Tata (born September 7, 1959) (/ˈteɪtə/), is an American retired United States Army officer, author, and government official. He is a retired brigadier general of the United States Army (1981–2009), and later served as a school district administrator for two large school districts in the District of Columbia and North Carolina. He served as Secretary of Transportation of North Carolina from 2013 to 2015 under Governor Pat McCrory. Tata is the author of the Threat series of thriller novels.

After leaving the Army, he became a regular on Fox News. where he offered pro-Donald Trump commentary. He has falsely claimed that Barack Obama is a Muslim and "terrorist leader" and promoted a baseless conspiracy theory asserting that the CIA sought to assassinate Trump.

In 2020, Tata joined the Pentagon in a senior civilian advisory role to Defense Secretary Mark Esper. On April 23, 2020 Trump nominated Tata to the post of Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. His nomination was submitted to the Senate on June 11, 2020, but a hearing on his confirmation was cancelled on July 30, and the White House planned to withdraw the nomination. Later, Tata was appointed as "the official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy reporting to the acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, James Anderson." Following Anderson's resignation after the November 2020 elections, Tata served as the de facto acting Under Secretary under the official title "Performing the Duties of Under Secretary of Defense for Policy" until his resignation on January 15, 2021.