As Trump’s term ends, 40 percent of top DoD jobs lack confirmed officials – By Aaron Mehta (Defense News) / Nov 21 2020
WASHINGTON — Regular delays in nominations, combined with significant turnover at the highest levels of the Pentagon, means 40 percent of the top jobs at the department that require Senate confirmation are without an approved appointee as the Trump administration winds down.
A tally by Defense News shows 24 of the 60 positions at the Department of Defense are not occupied by confirmed individuals, with experts seeing little chance any current nominees will receive Senate approval before the clock runs out.
Among those offices without a confirmed official are some of the top civilian roles in the department: the Secretary of Defense and the undersecretaries of intelligence, policy, research and engineering and the comptroller.
Almost all of the vacancies are within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), while four spots —Undersecretary of the Navy, Undersecretary of the Air Force, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, and General Counsel of the Army — are vacant at the service level.
