Lawrence Di Rita

Lawrence Di Rita (born in Detroit, Michigan) was a close aide to United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and is currently a spokesman for Bank of America|Bank of America Corp.

Di Rita served as acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and U.S. Department of Defense spokesmen under Secretary Rumsfeld. Reportedly, he was slated to become Secretary of the Army but his nomination was scuttled due to opposition in the United States Senate. His prior position was Special Assistant to Rumsfeld. Throughout his time in the Pentagon, Di Rita was considered the Defense Secretary's right-hand aide. Even after Rumsfeld's resignation, Di Rita was authorized by Rumsfeld to speak on his behalf to Time magazine regarding matters such as Rumsfeld's current plans and activities.^[1]

Di Rita received a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He served as a U.S. Navy officer until 1994 at which time Di Rita joined the Heritage Foundation as Deputy Director of Foreign Policy and Defense Studies. Di Rita was Policy Director to the 1996 Presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Phil Gramm and Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison from 1996 until 2001.

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