{"id":61970,"date":"2018-01-03T23:09:44","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T23:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/01\/03\/us-senate-confirms-rood-as-pentagon-policy-chief\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:36:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:36:39","slug":"us-senate-confirms-rood-as-pentagon-policy-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2018\/01\/03\/us-senate-confirms-rood-as-pentagon-policy-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"US Senate confirms Rood as Pentagon policy chief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Senate easily confirmed John Rood as undersecretary of defense for policy, in an 81-7 vote Wednesday, overruling lawmaker concerns that industry executives<\/a> are overrepresented in the Trump administration\u2019s Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rood, who most recently was vice president for international sales at Lockheed Martin, now fills a key vacancy in the team of Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis \u2013 a job that had been empty since the Trump administration came to office almost a year ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a floor speech that her \u201cNo\u201d vote was because Rood refused to rule out waivers to an ethics agreement that bars him from taking any part in Lockheed business for two years. She also argued against the number of defense industry executives in senior DoD posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo taxpayer should have to wonder whether the top policy-makers at the Pentagon are pushing defense products and foreign military sales for any reason other than the protection of the United States of America,\u201d said Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. \u201cNo American should have to wonder whether the Defense Department is acting to protect the national interests of our nation or the financial interests of the five giant defense contractors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After President Trump announced Rood for the job in mid-October, the nomination stalled for weeks after a testy confirmation hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee. Its chairman, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., expressed frustration at Rood\u2019s vague answers to Warren\u2019s questions about him recusing himself.
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Warren, in her floor speech, said Rood had since sent her a message to decline on the grounds that it might hinder his ability to do his job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among major jobs filled from the defense industry are Patrick Shanahan, a Boeing vice president who is now deputy secretary of defense; Mark Esper, a Raytheon executive who is now Army secretary; Ellen Lord, a Textron executive who now heads the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics; and Ryan McCarthy, the undersecretary of the Army who previously worked at Lockheed.
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