Chairman for Senate Armed Services Committee informed that several nominations from Pentagon have passed through the committee. Once the chairman comes back from the summer recess in September, there will be more nominations that need to be considered.
Last month the Senate declared Mark Esper to be the Defense Secretary and David Norquist to be the Deputy Secretary of Defense. These 2 positions are considered to be the top civilian designations in the Defense Department. The names of the highest military ranks were also declared. General Mark Milley will be the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff and Administration. Michael Gilday will be designated as the Naval Operations chief.
Inhofe informed that they had considered approximately 4500 nominations for the positions since the summer. SASC has the target to consider more nominations for DoD civilians and nominations for military when the session resumes in September. These nominations are expected to come from White House. At present Army and the Air Force still are led by civilians who are not confirmed by the Senate. On 21 June, White House has nominated Ryan McCarthy as the Army Secretary. He has been working as the under-secretary of the Army under the leadership of Esper.
On 21 May, Donald Trump informed that he intends to nominate ex- US Ambassador, Barbara Barrett as the secretary of Air Force. This nomination is yet to be formally submitted.
As per a DoD spokesperson, the formal nomination from the White House will be submitted in August. He also informed that Barrett is preparing the final paperwork for the same. The final confirmation for Barrett and McCarthy will be announced in the 2nd week of September. There is another top designation waiting for confirmation from the Senate, the Vice Chairmanship of Joint Chief of Staff. Inhofe informed that it is essential for Pentagon to have Senate approved leadership.
