Anthony J. Tata

Tata is a retired brigadier general in the United States Army, having served for 28 years in the military before retiring in 2009.[10] From 2006 to 2007, he was Deputy Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan.[9][11] Tata served two tours of duty at Fort Bragg in the 82nd Airborne Division. As the Chief of Plans for the 82nd Airborne Division, Tata led the planning effort for Operation Uphold Democracy.[12] He also was brigade commander in the 101st Airborne Division and Deputy Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division.[9]

He retired from the Army under a cloud of negativity, after the Army found--and he admitted--to two charges of adultery while married, as well as a forged court document. Adultery is a punishable offense under the UCMJ. [13]

After retiring from active duty service, he served as the Chief Operating Officer of the District of Columbia Public Schools from 2009 to 2010. In 2010, he was named Superintendent of the Wake County Public School System.[14] Tata had strained relationships with several members of the Wake County School Board, which shifted to a democratic majority during Tata's service. Opposition fell along party-lines. Citing concerns over his "leadership style" and his handling of student assignment issues in the large school district, Tata's contract was terminated after less than two years, in 2012.[15][16] The decision to buy out Tata’s contract under a no-fault clause was controversial, with two local polls suggesting that a majority of Wake County voters and parents of children in the district opposed the decision to remove Tata.[17][18]

In January 2013, North Carolina governor Pat McCrory appointed Tata as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Transportation.[9] As Secretary he was responsible for leading the efforts to build a new Bonner Bridge that connects mainland North Carolina to the Outer Banks. He also led the state's efforts to revise the funding formula that expedited transportation construction. He resigned on July 28, 2015 to pursue his writing career and potentially pursue a run for congress.[19] As Secretary of Transportation, he was also a member of the North Carolina Cabinet.

Tata has appeared on commentary panels on Fox News.[20] In August 2018, he accused former CIA Director John Brennan of being a "clear and present danger" to the US and called Brennan a "communist" on Fox & Friends.[21] In November, he defended President Donald Trump's decision to send troops to the southern border to block access by Central American migrants.[20]

In his political commentary, Tata was a regular defender of Donald Trump and his administration.[22] He pushed false conspiracy theories that John Brennan, the former CIA director, had ordered the assassination of Trump.[4]

In Twitter posts and radio-show appearances in 2017 and 2018, Tata repeatedly made the false claim that President Barack Obama was a "Muslim" and a "terrorist leader"; accused Obama of being "an anti-Semite" who wanted to "destroy Israel" and "did not want" to defeat ISIL; and claimed that the negotiation of the multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran was born by Obama's "Islamic roots."[22] Tata accused then-President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama of "borderline treasonous" during Trump's transition to the presidency.[4]

Tata also made various inflammatory Twitter posts attacking Democratic politicians Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters as "violent extremists" and using a racist hashtag to criticize CNN journalist Don Lemon.[22] Tata deleted several of his Twitter posts after they were publicized by CNN in June 2020.[22]

On April 24, 2020, Trump announced his intent to nominate Tata to be the next Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, replacing John Rood, who resigned from the position on February 2020.[5] His nomination was formally sent to the Senate on June 11[23] and has encountered opposition from Armed Services ranking member Jack Reed (D-RI).[24]

Three generals have withdrawn their support for Tata's nomination after being informed of inflammatory tweets and comments he had made on regarding Islam, President Obama and Democratic lawmakers as well as a tweet that was removed for violating decency rules. On Twitter, Tata described Islam as "the most oppressive, violent religion" and referred to President Barack Obama as a "terrorist leader." He falsely claimed on radio that Obama had "Islamic roots." Tata accused both Obama and former president Bill Clinton of treason and tweeted at John Brennan, "Might be a good time to pick your poison: firing squad, public hanging, life sentence as prison b*tch, or just suck on your pistol. Your call. #Treason #Sedition #crossfirehurricane #Obamagate." Tata currently serves at the Pentagon in a senior advisory role to Defense Secretary Mark Esper.[25][26]

100 percent of the proceeds from Tata's Threat series books have been donated to the USO Metro DC Hospital Services fund for Wounded Warriors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. As of 2010, $30,000 had been donated.[27][28] His novel Besieged was listed by Publishers Weekly as a Top 10 Thriller/Mystery of 2017.

• Threat Series
  • Book I, Sudden Threat (2009), ISBN 978-1935142089
  • Book II, Rogue Threat (2009), ISBN 978-1935142096
  • Book III, Hidden Threat (2011), ISBN 978-1935142171
  • Book IV, Mortal Threat (2015) ISBN 978-1508483786
• Captain Jake Mahegan Series
  • Foreign and Domestic (2015), ISBN 0786035404
  • Three Minutes to Midnight (2016), ISBN 1496706250
  • Besieged (2017) ISBN 978-1496706638
  • Direct Fire (2017) ISBN 978-1496706645
  • Dark Winter (2018) ISBN 1496717902
• Reaper Series, published as A. J. Tata
  • With Nicholas Irving. Reaper: Ghost Target (2018) ISBN 1250127343
  • With Nicholas Irving. Reaper: Threat Zero (2019) ISBN 125012736X
  • With Nicholas Irving. Reaper: Drone Strike (2020) ISBN 9781250240743

Tata's work has been compared to that of Tom Clancy.[8]