If Mitch Pileggi, who played the Secretary of Defense (SecDef), seems to project a "command presence" with a gruff exterior, it would be due to the fact that he has played authority figures before. His two notable appearances would be as Assistant Director Skinner in the long running series The X-Files (1993) and as Colonel Steven Caldwell in the Stargate SG-1 (1997) spin-off Stargate: Atlantis (2004).