The Senate Armed Services Committee approved the nominations of Jamie Morin, the Air Force’s top financial manager, to be the Defense Department’s director of cost assessment and program evaluation; Frank Klotz, former commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, to be undersecretary of energy for nuclear security; Jessica Wright to be undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness; and Jo Ann Rooney to be undersecretary of the Navy. The nominations have been sent to the full Senate for a vote. Of the four nominees Rooney’s appears to be the most uncertain. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand [D-N.Y.] had placed a hold on her nomination in October after Rooney submitted a written statement explaining her view on sexual assaults in the military. Gillibrand continues to push an amendment that would significantly change the rules of the Uniform Code of Military Justice by removing a commander’s authority to make decisions in cases involving sexual assault. Gillibrand, instead, wants that power to be placed in the hands of an independent prosecutor.
The Air Force is on track to reach its annual goal of graduating 1,500 new pilots that had proved elusive to this point, one year after the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its undergraduate pilot training program, Air Education and Training Command said Sept. 14.
