US President Donald Trump
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
on Monday asked the Senate to confirm Mark Esper as the successor to former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, whose resignation last December opened an unprecedented period of senior-level instability at the Pentagon.
The moment the nomination was received by the Senate on Monday afternoon, Esper was required to step out of his role as acting defense secretary ‐ a job he has held since June ‐ until he is confirmed as the permanent secretary. He reverted to his previous position of Army secretary.
Filling in for Esper pending his confirmation is Richard Spencer, who has been the civilian leader of the Navy since August 2017.
Spencer’s tenure as acting secretary is expected to be brief. Esper will have his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday and could be confirmed as early as Thursday. Spencer would then return to the Navy.
Spencer, a native of Connecticut, joined the Marine Corps after graduating from Rollins College in 1976. He served in the Marines until 1981 as an H-46 helicopter pilot, according to his official Navy biography.
He is a former Wall Street investment banker. For 10 years prior to becoming Navy secretary he was managing director of Fall Creek Management, a private investment firm.
Esper took over as acting defense secretary in June when Patrick Shanahan abruptly quit after having served as acting secretary since Mattis departed. Thus Spencer, filling in for Esper as of Monday, is the third acting defense secretary this year.
Prior to the Trump administration, only twice before has the Defense Department been led by an acting secretary ‐ most recently in 1989 ‐ and never has it had more than one in a single year.
If Esper is confirmed by the Senate this week, Norquist is expected to be nominated by Trump next week to be permanent deputy secretary.
Esper, who has been the civilian leader of the Army since November 2017, has a wide range of experience with defense issues, including years on Capitol Hill. More recently he was a lobbyist for Raytheon Co., which does a lot of business with the Pentagon.
Esper’s former work with Raytheon is likely to come up at his Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday. Sen. Elizabeth
Being Native American has been part of my story since the day I was bornWarren
...Dem Senatrix from Massachussetts, who traces her noble lineage all the way back to Big Chief Spouting Bull. It has been alleged that she speaks with forked tongue but she denies that. She had a DNA test to prove her lineage and it turns out she's colorless..., a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and a member of the committee, has raised questions about Esper’s lobbying background.