Steve Kosiak

He’s not based at the Pentagon, but no one outside that five-sided puzzle palace has more direct control over what the Defense Department spends than this career budget analyst, who came to OMB in 2009 after spending 18 years at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Working far out of the spotlight, Kosiak is the behind-the-scenes hand directing DoD to slash hundreds of billions of dollars in spending and putting the White House’s imprint on critical budgetary decisions.