Wilkie also served in the Pentagon under Donald Rumsfeld, worked for Condoleezza Rice and had years of experience on Capitol Hill working for Sens. Thom Tillis and Trent Lott. In his new office, Wilkie now hangs a portrait of Gen. Omar Bradley, the first secretary of Veterans Affairs after World War II, and has chosen Bradley's desk as his own. Omar Bradley was tasked with changing VA to accommodate 11 million soldiers coming off active duty and into Veterans Affairs ranks, he was really a visionary.