Pentagon’s leading Russia-Ukraine expert departs

LAURA COOPER, a career civil servant who led the Russia and Ukraine office since the first Trump administration, stepped down from her post just after the new year, according to one former and three current officials, as our own PAUL MCLEARY and your lead NatSec Daily author report (for Pros!).

Cooper, who spent more than two decades at the Pentagon, is probably best known for testifying to Congress over the objections of department leadership as part of Trump’s Ukraine-related impeachment trial. The Defense Department didn’t say why Cooper left, but given her testimony and the uncertainty over Ukraine policy, the Pentagon might have proven an uncomfortable place for her under the new president.

Her departure reflects a growing sense of anxiety within the Defense Department over the incoming administration and how it plans to treat the ranks of career civil servants and military flag officers, particularly amid expectations Trump will downsize the federal workforce.

Cooper played an outsized role in coordinating the massive shipments of U.S. military aid to Ukraine since Russia first invaded in 2022. But Pentagon and State Department officials who worked closely with her said they feared she would have a target on her back under Trump for her testimony and ties to Biden-era Ukraine policy. We granted all of them anonymity to discuss the matter candidly.

Cooper was part of a class of federal officials who serve in administrations of both parties and are seen as the institutional brain behind massive bureaucracies. Unlike political appointees, civil servants are not expected to leave with a change of political leadership.

She is heading to a teaching position at the National Defense University in Washington and could not be reached for comment.

Cooper first made headlines in 2019 when she was called to testify in Congress on efforts by then-president Trump to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, his rival in the 2020 presidential election. Trump also faced allegations that he withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine as part of that push. The Senate acquitted Trump of those charges on mostly party-line votes.

Cooper testified in a closed-door deposition before congressional committees despite a White House letter warning her not to appear. She also repeated her testimony during a public hearing.

Her deposition, according to a transcript, was limited to discussing the holdup in providing Ukraine with $400 million in military aid that Congress had allocated for training. She told lawmakers that the money was “held without explanation,” and U.S. officials “began to raise concerns about how this could be done in a legal fashion.”

Cooper developed a good rapport with many in the Ukrainian government while coordinating aid, and some of them would stop by her office at the Pentagon when visiting Washington, according to multiple Ukrainian officials. She is widely regarded in Kyiv as an honest broker in negotiations.

Cooper has been replaced on a temporary basis by STEVEN SCHLEIEN, who also runs the Defense Continuity and Mission Assurance office, which ensures continuity of the U.S. government in crisis situations.

With help from Phelim Kine, John Sakellariadis, Jack Detsch and Joe Gould