Patrick Joseph Murphy (born October 19, 1973) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd United States Under Secretary of the Army.

Murphy is currently on the faculty of Wharton Business School and the Distinguished Chair of Innovation at the United States Military Academy.

[2][3] Murphy was confirmed by voice vote as Under Secretary of the Army by the U.S. Senate on December 18, 2015,[4] after having been nominated for the position by the President on August 5, 2015.

[9] As a high school student, Murphy worked weekends as a security guard in the rowdy "700 Level" of Veterans Stadium during Philadelphia Eagles and Temple University football games.

He also served as the legislative aide to Thomas Tangretti, a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from Westmoreland County.

After returning from active duty, Murphy joined Cozen O'Connor, a large U.S. law firm based in Philadelphia.

[14] While in Baghdad as a JAG Corps attorney with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, Murphy worked to reconstruct the justice system and helped prosecute Sheik Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad, a lieutenant of Muqtada al-Sadr.

[17] On May 16, 2006, he won the Democratic primary with about 65% of the vote,[18] against Andrew Warren, a former county commissioner and ex-Republican who badly trailed Murphy in campaign funds.

During the campaign, Murphy received support from many nationally known figures including George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, and Ben Affleck.

[32] On February 13, 2008, he was the only member of the House to vote against a resolution congratulating the New York Giants for the team's victory in Super Bowl XLII.

[35] In 2008 and 2009, Murphy spearheaded an effort to build the Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, after decades of Congressional inaction.

Murphy authored the bi-partisan bill to help eliminate fraud in the health care system and protect taxpayer dollars.

Murphy sponsored the bill which would assist children whose parent or guardian died as a result of performing service as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew.

[41] Murphy's office worked with the Secret Service to secure hundreds of thousands of dollars for victims of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme.

[43] Murphy worked tirelessly to convince fellow moderate Democrats to support the issue despite the political risk involved.

The bill enacted stricter standards among federal agencies to identify improper payments and recover taxpayer dollars that were misspent.

[49] Murphy has a permit to carry concealed firearms[50] and considers the right to bear arms is guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, but with regulation.

[52] Also in 2008, Murphy was an original co-sponsor of legislation that would repeal the District of Columbia's ban on semi-automatic weapons and mandatory handgun registration.

[55] Murphy sponsored the Officer Daniel Faulkner Children of Fallen Heroes Scholarship Act of 2010 passed the House.

Congressman Patrick Murphy sponsored the bill which would assist children whose parent or guardian died as a result of performing service as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew.

"[57] He became well-known to soldiers for visiting units across the world, participating in physical training sessions, and for engaging them directly via social media and personally written army-wide emails.

[61] He also doubled the maternity and paternity leave available to troops to 12 weeks[62] and was instrumental in ending the ban on transgender people serving in the Army.

[64] AAFES’s analysis projects total exchange sales increasing across of wide range of possibility, from a low of $226 million annually to a high of $1.13.

After leaving the Department of the Army, Murphy continued to advise corporations on ways to more efficiently and effectively deliver healthcare services to Veterans.

[68] In 2020, Murphy was named Chair of the Government Advisory Board for the Cerner Corporation, facilitating a partnership with the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to modernize their electronic healthcare records.

Murphy served as a senior national security fellow at the Center For American Progress until his return to government service as Under Secretary of the Army.

[84] Murphy earned an international CLIO Award in October 2014 for his partnership with Grammy Award-winning band Imagine Dragons and the Wounded Warrior Project by highlighting positive veterans stories on their road to recovery on his MSNBC show.

He was also featured in the Discovery Channel documentary Taking The Hill, which told the story of the 50 veterans of the Global War on Terrorism who ran for Congress in 2006.

[86] Ben Affleck has credited Murphy for being a major inspiration for his portrayal of the character Stephen Collins in the 2009 movie State of Play.

[88] Murphy authored an autobiography entitled Taking the Hill: From Philly to Baghdad to the United States Congress; it was published by Henry Holt and Co. (February 19, 2008); ISBN 978-0-8050-8695-9 Murphy earned an Emmy Award for producing a Docuseries highlighting heroic nurses during COVID entitled "Side by Side: A Celebration of Service.