Mark Lippert

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 (Chinese: 李模楷), 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.

Lippert spent two years serving as an intelligence officer with the Navy SEALs. He continued to be on the White House payroll while on active duty, which is permitted by federal law, but caused some controversy.

After completing his active duty with the Navy, Lippert was nominated by President Obama in October 2011 to succeed General Wallace Gregson as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs. While Lippert's nomination was held up for several months due to holds placed on it by Senators John McCain and John Cornyn Lippert's relationship with former National Security Advisor Jim Jones, and over F-16 sales to Taiwan, respectively, he was confirmed by the Senate in a voice vote on April 2012.

When Kurt Campbell resigned as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in February 2013, Lippert was rumoured as a possible replacement for Campbell. Lippert was named newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's Chief of Staff in early May 2013.

Ambassador to South Korea

On May 1, 2014, President Obama announced his intention to nominate Lippert to be United States Ambassador to South Korea. The United States Senate voted to confirm Lippert's nomination on September 18, 2014. He was sworn in as the new ambassador by Secretary of State John Kerry in October 2014. Yonhap reported that at the ceremony, U.S. President Barack Obama made a "surprise appearance.. in a show of his closeness and friendship with the new envoy."

Knife attack

At about 7:40 a.m. on March 5, 2015, Lippert was attacked by a knife-wielding man at a restaurant attached to Sejong Center in downtown Seoul, where Lippert was scheduled to give a speech at a meeting of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation. The assailant, Kim Ki-jong, is a member of Uri Madang, a progressive cultural organization opposed to the Korean War. He inflicted wounds on Lippert's left arm as well as a four-inch cut on the right side of the ambassador's face, requiring 80 stitches. Lippert underwent surgery at Yonsei University's Severance Hospital in Seoul. While his injuries were not life-threatening, doctors stated that it would take several months for Lippert to regain use of his fingers. A police official said that the knife used in the attack was 10 inches (25 cm) long and Lippert later reported that the blade penetrated to within 2 cm of his carotid artery. ABC News summarized the immediate aftermath of the attack as follows: "Ambassador Lippert, an Iraq war veteran, defended himself from the attack. Lippert was rushed to a hospital where he was treated for deep cuts to his face, his arm, and his hand... [He] kept his cool throughout the incident."

During the attack and while being subdued by security, Kim screamed that the rival Koreas should be unified and told reporters that he had attacked Lippert to protest the annual United States-South Korean joint military exercises. Kim has a record of militant Korean nationalist activism; he attacked the Japanese ambassador to South Korea in 2010 and was sentenced to a three-year suspended prison term. On September 11, 2015, Kim was sentenced to twelve years in prison for the attack.

Lippert was widely praised for his handling of the incident. Many commentators noted his cool and calm demeanor during the attack and his deft handling of public communications in the hours and days after. The leading Korean paper ran an editorial stating: "Kudos goes to the victim... [Lippert] remained calm even as he was rushed to the hospital. The scene left a deep impression on the public... It may not have been easy to keep a calm face with blood gushing down his neck, but Lippert did and assured the people around him that he was OK. As soon as he woke up from surgery, he wrote on his Twitter account that he was doing well. 'Let’s go together,' he wrote in Korean." Noted historian Max Boot wrote "By all accounts Mark Lippert... is an exemplary Ambassador... he has further enhanced his reputation with the sang-froid with which he handled a vicious attack... his example shows how diplomats, too, serve on the front lines and deserve respect for the risks they run and what they can accomplish to advance our country’s interests."