Denis Richard McDonough (born December 2, 1969) is an American government official who served as the 11th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs[1] under President Joe Biden from February 9, 2021, to January 20, 2025.

[4][5] McDonough graduated from Stillwater Area High School in 1988,[6] then attended Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota[7] He played safety on the Johnnies football team for Hall of Fame coach John Gagliardi[8][9] and was a member of teams that won two conference titles in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

[3] In 2007, Senator Barack Obama's chief foreign policy advisor Mark Lippert, a Navy reservist, was called into active duty.

[15] McDonough was seen in photos of the White House Situation Room taken during the monitoring of the May 2011 SEAL operation in Pakistan that resulted in the Osama bin Laden's death.

[7] In February 2013 McDonough urged lawmakers to quickly confirm Chuck Hagel and John O. Brennan to their posts in Obama's national security team, expressing "grave concern" about the delays.

In 2017, McDonough joined the Markle Foundation,[17] a nonprofit that aims to "transform America's outdated labor market to reflect the needs of the digital economy," boost employment opportunities, and expand job training for Americans.