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Trump’s Defense Secretary Nominee to Get Quick Senate Review

Trump’s Defense Secretary Nominee to Get Quick Senate Review

(Bloomberg) -- An expedited confirmation hearing for Mark Esper to become defense secretary will take place Tuesday, leaders of the Senate Armed Services announced.

The Army secretary and former Raytheon Co. lobbyist has been acting secretary at the Pentagon, which hasn’t had a confirmed chief since December.

Flagging concerns about turmoil at the top of the Defense Department, committee Chairman Jim Inhofe and top Democrat Jack Reed said Thursday that they’ve already received pre-nomination paperwork from the Trump administration allowing them to get started on vetting Esper for the job.

Trump’s Defense Secretary Nominee to Get Quick Senate Review

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis stepped down in December over disagreements with President Donald Trump’s Syria policy. Mattis’s deputy, Patrick Shanahan, became acting secretary but withdrew from contention for the permanent post last month after allegations of domestic violence in his family emerged.

“We need Senate-confirmed leadership at the Pentagon, and quickly,” Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, said in a joint statement with Reed of Rhode Island on Thursday. During a hearing earlier in the day, Reed said he was “concerned that the constant turnover of senior civilian leadership within the department has created uncertainty and disarray. ”

Inhofe told reporters on Thursday that a vote in the full Senate to confirm Esper could come before the chamber’s August break.

While both Inhofe and Reed emphasized that they will move quickly to consider Esper’s nomination, the circumstances around Shanahan’s aborted consideration for defense secretary means there will be hard questions about whether sufficient vetting has been done. The allegations that derailed Shanahan’s expected nomination for the top job weren’t raised during his 2017 confirmation to be Mattis’s deputy.

Under the federal Vacancies Act, Esper, 55, must step down as acting secretary once his nomination is formally sent to the Senate by the White House. He’ll be replaced on a temporary basis by Navy Secretary Richard Spencer until his confirmation.

Read More: Navy Secretary Poised to Lead Pentagon When Esper Nominate

--With assistance from Travis Tritten.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert

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