Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh has assigned Maj. Gen. Garrett Harencak to become the next assistant chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, announced the Pentagon. He will replace Maj. Gen. William Chambers, who has held the Air Staff post since July 2010 and is retiring from the Air Force, effective on June 1, 2013, according to his official biography. Harencak has been commander of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Kirtland AFB, N.M., since January 2011. Assigned to replace him at the center’s helm is Brig. Gen. Sandra Finan, according to the Defense Department’s Dec. 7 release. She’s been serving since January 2011 as the principal assistant deputy administrator for military application at the National Nuclear Security Administration in Washington, D.C.
Navy Adm. Samuel J. Paparo Jr. assumed leadership of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, succeeding Navy Adm. John Aquilino at a change of command ceremony, urging action amid China's “increasing intrusive and expansionist claims,” on May 3