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Mark Esper, David Norquist, and Ryan McCarthy will take the reins of the U.S. war machine.
U.S. President Donald Trump Friday confirmed he intends to nominate Mark Esper to be the new Secretary of Defense, David Norquist to be Deputy Secretary of Defense, and Ryan McCarthy to be the Secretary of the Army.
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On Thursday Trump gave an indication of his intent to appoint Esper as head of the Pentagon during the announcement that Patrick M. Shanahan had decided to permanently withdraw his nomination.
Esper is a 55-year old veteran who graduated from West Point in the same class as current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and fought as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army during the First Gulf War.
After leaving active duty, he worked in the Senate as a defense policy consultant and at the Pentagon as a senior official, which then led him to become chief of staff of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Did the Pentagon tell Trump?https://t.co/TAHiiqLq2h
— Michele Romeo, M.S. /Dem/Vegan (@gojiberrygranol) June 22, 2019
He has also worked for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and Raytheon, one of the Pentagon's biggest contractors.
David Norquist is civilian and financial management official who has mainly served in in the Department of Defense. He has also been the acting "number two" of the Pentagon since January.
The nominee for Secretary of the Army, Ryan McCarthy, worked for Lockheed Martin, another one of the Pentagon's biggest contractors, before joining the Trump administration. He is currently the undersecretary of the Army.
According to current government protocol, all these nominations need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before officials can begin to execute their positions.
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