Paul F. McHale

Paul Francis McHale Jr. (born July 26, 1950) is a retired American lawyer, politician, and United States Marine who served three terms as a Representative from Pennsylvania in the United States Congress from 1993 to 1999. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Pennsylvania’s 15th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives and contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American political history. He later served as the first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense from 2003 to 2009, playing a central role in shaping U.S. homeland defense policy in the years following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

McHale was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from Liberty High School. He went on to attend Lehigh University, also in Bethlehem, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in government with highest honors in 1972. That same year he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, beginning a military career that would span more than three decades. After his undergraduate studies, McHale pursued legal training at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., receiving his Juris Doctor in 1977. He was admitted to the bar and entered legal practice while continuing his service in the Marine Corps Reserve.

Throughout his parallel military and civilian careers, McHale remained an active Marine officer. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve with the rank of colonel in 2007. His service included combat tours in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield in 1990, in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2007. In October 2006 he was recalled to active Marine Corps duty to deploy to Afghanistan. His personal military decorations include the Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Navy Commendation Medal with a second award, reflecting distinguished performance in both combat and leadership roles.

McHale entered elective office at the state level before his service in Congress. He was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1983 to 1991, representing a district in the Lehigh Valley. In 1991 he resigned his state legislative seat in order to volunteer for active duty in the Gulf War, underscoring the priority he placed on military service. Returning from the Gulf War, he sought federal office and in 1992 ran for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 15th district. In a major upset, he defeated 14-year Republican incumbent Don Ritter, drawing support from significant numbers of Democratic, Republican, and Independent voters in the Lehigh Valley.

From January 3, 1993, to January 3, 1999, McHale served three consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. During his tenure he was an active member of the House Armed Services Committee, where he focused on national security, defense policy, and the interests of military personnel and veterans. He co-founded the National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus, reflecting his longstanding commitment to reserve and National Guard issues. McHale’s service in Congress occurred during a consequential period in American politics, including debates over defense spending, post–Cold War military posture, and domestic policy. He gained national prominence in 1998 when he publicly called for President Bill Clinton to resign in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. He voted for three of the four articles of impeachment against Clinton, making him one of only five Democrats to support at least one article of impeachment. Among those five, McHale had by far the most liberal voting record; the others—Virgil Goode, Ralph Hall, Charlie Stenholm, and Gene Taylor—were noted for their very conservative records, and Goode, Hall, and Taylor later became Republicans. McHale left Congress at the conclusion of his third term in January 1999.

After leaving the House of Representatives, McHale returned to private legal practice and consulting. Beginning in 1999, he represented Panda Energy International during the company’s legal and public relations disputes, including matters arising in his former congressional district. He continued to build a professional profile at the intersection of law, national security, and public policy, drawing on his legislative and military experience.

In 2003, President George W. Bush nominated McHale to serve as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense, a newly created position within the Department of Defense. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he assumed office on February 7, 2003, becoming the first official to hold that title. In this role, which he held until January 2009, McHale supervised all homeland defense activities for the Department of Defense and represented the Department at the highest levels of U.S. domestic crisis planning. As Assistant Secretary of Defense, he exercised senior civilian oversight of U.S. Northern Command and U.S. Southern Command, as well as Department of Defense Western Hemisphere policy affairs. His responsibilities included Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) and the transfer of technologies to homeland security use pursuant to Section 1401 of the 2003 National Defense Authorization Act. For his combined service as a Member of Congress and as Assistant Secretary of Defense, McHale was awarded the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal, the department’s highest civilian honor, by three successive Secretaries of Defense.

Following his tenure at the Pentagon, McHale founded Civil Support International LLC in 2010, a consulting firm that advised private contractors, academic institutions, and government agencies on disaster preparedness, crisis response, homeland defense, and homeland security. He served as president of the firm from 2010 to 2020. In 2020 he retired from law and business to pursue advanced academic study in military history. He enrolled at Maynooth University in Ireland, where he completed a Master of Arts in Military History and Strategic Studies with first class honors in 2022, further deepening his expertise in the field that had shaped much of his professional life.

In his personal life, McHale is married to Major General Martha Rainville, the first woman in the history of the U.S. National Guard to serve as a state adjutant general and a former congressional candidate from Vermont. He has three children—Matthew, Mary, and Luke McHale—from a previous marriage to Katherine Pecka McHale.