WASHINGTON \u2014 Senators confirmed four new U.S. Defense Department assistant secretaries in evening work Wednesday, including the Pentagon\u2019s new head of Pacific affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All four nominees were approved by voice vote without opposition. The group also passed through committee without difficulty and will be sworn into the new posts in the coming days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Randall Schriver takes over as the new assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific affairs. He served as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs under President George W. Bush from 2003 to 2005, and as chief of staff and senior policy adviser to the deputy secretary of state from 2001 to 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also held numerous Pacific-focused jobs at the Pentagon prior to that and spent part of his Navy reservist career as a military attache to the embassy in Beijing, China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Senate also confirmed new assistant secretaries for three of the services. Bruce Jette will become a new assistant secretary for the Army, Thomas Harker for the Navy and John Roth for the Air Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jette will handle acquisition, logistics and technology for Army planning. He most recently served as CEO of Synovision Solutions, a consulting firm with numerous military contracts. He is an Army veteran who previously worked in military posts, and he was the founder of the Army\u2019s Rapid Equipping Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harker, who will serve as comptroller for the Navy, was previously the associate deputy assistant secretary of financial policy at the Department of Veterans Affairs. He is a Coast Guard veteran who spent time working in the Office of Management and Budget under President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roth, the Air Force\u2019s next comptroller, was the Pentagon\u2019s deputy comptroller for program and budget. He has held numerous financial officer positions within the Defense Department, including acting principal deputy undersecretary of defense for the comptroller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senators also confirmed James McPherson to be general counsel for the Army during Wednesday\u2019s work, along with Air Force Maj. Gen. Anthony Cotton to be promoted to lieutenant general and become the next commander and president of Air University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Rood, nominee for the Pentagon\u2019s undersecretary for policy, is scheduled to face a Senate confirmation vote Jan. 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Senate has now confirmed 32 Defense Department nominees in the last 11 months. White House officials had complained earlier this year about the slow pace of nominations, saying it hurt their ability to conduct a wide range of military planning activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The confirmations bring the total number of Defense Department nominees approved by the Senate this year to 32.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":52229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,16,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3328],"class_list":["post-26569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"YUNF4WJ7IRDSLGAPCPUEGOYRSU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/12\/21\/senate-approves-four-new-defense-department-assistant-secretaries\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n