{"id":29187,"date":"2017-10-20T19:42:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-20T19:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2017\/10\/20\/navy-likely-to-be-passed-over-for-top-pacific-command-spot\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:08:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:08:51","slug":"navy-likely-to-be-passed-over-for-top-pacific-command-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/breaking-news\/2017\/10\/20\/navy-likely-to-be-passed-over-for-top-pacific-command-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy likely to be passed over for top Pacific Command spot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Air Force Gen. Terrence O\u2019Shaughnessy, the current commander of Pacific Air Forces, is the leading nominee to become the next head of U.S. Pacific Command \u2013 a position historically held by Navy officials, Defense News has learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four sources with knowledge of the discussions said O\u2019Shaughnessy is the leading candidate for the spot, which would mark the first time in history the PACOM spot has not been filled by the Navy \u2013 a potential roadblock for Sen. John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Notably, O\u2019Shaughnessy is well regarded by Adm. Harry Harris, the current PACOM head who has emerged as a popular figure with the Trump White House. Harris is expected to retire next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Shaughnessy is a well-known figure to those in the Pacific theater. Among his assignments, he spent 2012-213 as deputy director for politico-military affairs for Asia on the Joint Staff, followed by 14-month stint as director for operations \u2013 headquarters with PACOM and a two-year stint as the deputy commander of U.S. forces in Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2017\/04\/25\/adm-harry-harris-the-military-s-hard-line-commander-in-the-pacific-comes-to-capitol-hill\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/adm-harry-harris-head-of-us-pacific-command.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Adm. Harry Harris, the military&#8217;s hard-line commander in the Pacific, comes to Capitol Hill<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The new administration has signaled that they see North Korea as the single greatest threat to U.S. security in the world. That puts Harris dead in the center of regional forces that could end in catastrophe if it&#039;s not carefully managed.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One source familiar with O\u2019Shaughnessy described the F-16 pilot as a \u201chumble\u201d guy who has largely avoided the spotlight, which could help his cause when it comes time for a formal nomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biggest hurdle for the nomination is likely to come from McCain, the Arizona Republican who is seen as friendly towards the Navy and historically critical of the Air Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force has not briefed SASC staffers about the O\u2019Shaughnessy nomination, which would be the first step before sitting down with McCain, an Air Force source told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service is hesitant to confront McCain with the information because of tensions between the SASC chairman and top administration officials \u2014 which have led to him blocking nominations from moving forward \u2014 and McCain\u2019s longstanding hostility toward the Air Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although the McCain\u2019s relationship with the Air Force is improving, it\u2019s \u201ctotally unclear\u201d if he will be supportive of O\u2019Shaughnessy\u2019s nomination, the source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inside the Navy, the race for the PACOM nomination was shaken up when the current head of U.S. Pacific Fleet announced in late September that the chief of naval operations, Adm. John Richardson, told him he was being passed over. He was pulled from contention after a summer that saw two Pacific Fleet ships colliding with commercial vessels, killing 17 sailors and causing hundreds-of-millions in damages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy\u2019s likely nominee would be Fleet Forces Commander Adm. Phil Davidson. Davidson has little experience in the Pacific Theater; his career is largely based on the East Coast and in the Middle East. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adm. Scott Swift had long been the predicted nominee for the PACOM spot, but announced plans to retire in September, citing the fact he had been told he would not be given the job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe think that Davidson is a sound nominee,\u201d said a Navy source familiar with the internal discussions. \u201cI think we realized that Swift was unconfirmable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2017\/08\/23\/us-pacific-fleet-boss-sacks-three-star-fleet-commander-after-a-rash-of-incidents\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635917503750768684-2305343jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US Pacific Fleet boss set to sack three-star fleet commander after a rash of accidents<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The head of U.S. Forces Pacific is preparing to sack the head of the three-star U.S. 7th Fleet after a string of mishaps among the Japan-based ships that have rocked the Navy to its core.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Davidson has previously commanded the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, the cruiser Gettysburg and the frigate Taylor. His shore assignments include deputy director for strategy and policy in the Joint Staff; senior military advisor to the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the State Department, and a previous tour at Fleet Forces Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before taking Fleet Forces, he was the commander of the U.S. 6th Fleet in Europe. He has previous experience earlier in his career at a staff job at PACFLT, according to his official biography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDavidson is by no means a throw-away candidate,\u201d the source said. \u201cThat said, we realize that O\u2019Shaughnessy is a strong pick, and if he gets the nod instead of Davidson, we\u2019ll look to place Davidson elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Davidson is also said to be a strong contender for vice chief of naval operations if he is passed up for PACOM. The current vice chief, Adm. Bill Moran, is a leading contender to replace Swift when he retires from PACFLT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Four sources with knowledge of the discussions said U.S. Air Force Gen. Terrence O\u2019Shaughnessy, the current commander of Pacific Air Forces, is the leading candidate for the spot. His confirmation would mark the first time in history the PACOM spot has not been filled by the Navy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":65833,"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":37,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[45,37,160,11,36,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3361,3378,3384],"class_list":["post-29187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-breaking-news","category-daily-news-roundup","category-global","category-newsletters","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"6OB2EU63ZZDWPIUVX4EHEC67VM","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/10\/20\/navy-likely-to-be-passed-over-for-top-pacific-command-spot\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Navy likely to be passed over for top Pacific Command spot - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Four sources with knowledge of the discussions said U.S. Air Force Gen. 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