{"id":33330,"date":"2020-12-09T20:22:45","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T20:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/12\/09\/mccarthy-could-serve-as-interim-army-secretary-in-biden-administration\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:46:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:46:48","slug":"mccarthy-could-serve-as-interim-army-secretary-in-biden-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2020\/12\/09\/mccarthy-could-serve-as-interim-army-secretary-in-biden-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"Army secretary McCarthy could be asked to stay in Biden administration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy<\/a> could stay on as the service\u2019s top civilian for as long as one year under the Biden administration, several people close to the president-elect\u2019s transition team told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move, if it happens, would likely make McCarthy the rare political official from the Trump team expected to be held over in the Biden administration. The decision is still under consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While political appointees tender their resignations at the start of a new administration, it is not uncommon, particularly at the Defense Department, for certain officials to be kept on in order to ensure continuity of operations. Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work, an Obama appointee, stayed in place<\/a> as the department\u2019s No. 2 for the first six months of the Trump administration, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a Trump appointee, McCarthy is seen in defense circles as a textbook, pro-defense Republican, one who served as a special assistant to former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates and worked on the House Committee on International Relations. He also served as Lockheed Martin\u2019s vice president for sustainment on the F-35 program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally confirmed as undersecretary of the Army, McCarthy twice served as the service\u2019s acting secretary: first in 2017 when several nominees for the job failed to advance, and then in 2019<\/a> when Mark Esper, then serving as Army secretary, was boosted to secretary of defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRyan McCarthy is well regarded,\u201d Michael O\u2019Hanlon, senior fellow and director of research in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, told Defense News. \u201cHis background as a soldier may help, because he got into this field in a nonpartisan way. Also, he worked in previous administrations so therefore isn\u2019t seen as just a Trump guy … I think he has been effective and non-polemical and smart. He\u2019d be a great choice to keep on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generally, it is helpful to keep an individual on in a leadership position from one administration to another, \u201cunless they are ideologically at odds,\u201d Ret. Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, the director of the Heritage Foundation\u2019s Center for National Defense, said to Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSecretary Ryan McCarthy has been an effective Army secretary. He has pushed numerous initiatives, most notably in Army modernization. If a Biden administration opted to keep Secretary McCarthy on the job, even if it was just until the new administration had a replacement confirmed, it would be helpful for the Army.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protecting transformations<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping McCarthy would come with the added benefit of ensuring continuity of leadership<\/a> from a team that radically transformed the service, over a short period of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who closely follow the service have called the team of then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Vice Chief Gen. James McConville, Esper and McCarthy a sort of dream team, a fateful meeting of several unique minds and personalities at the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leadership team was able to, in record time, launch a new warfighting concept that is now being adopted across all of the services; drastically improve force readiness; and stand up a brand new four-star command<\/a> to rapidly modernize.<\/p>\n\n\n\t