Page 38 - FCW, August 2020

People
raises concerns, especially since President Donald Trump is running for a second term. DOD has faced significant leadership turnover since 2016, which only compounds the challenges.
“The administration has made clear they don’t mind having acting \[leaders\] in positions; they kind of like it because it gives them more flexibility,” Soloway said. “But it has a real impact on how much you can actually get done.”
Soloway, who is now president and CEO of the government consulting firm Celero Strategies,
said it’s normal for people
to look for new jobs if they believe they aren’t likely to be part of a second-term administration, but four years of turnover with an inexperienced White House staff “suggests there’s something going on under the surface.”
Dwyer, a former analyst
in OSD’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office, concurred and pointed out that most of the defense secretary’s chief advisory roles are filled with temporary leaders.
Those organizations — which include research and engineering, policy, and acquisition and sus- tainment — “are the secretary’s primary tool for ensuring that the military services develop and procure technology that aligns with the secretary’s priorities,” Dwyer said. With the exception of the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, Ellen Lord, all those organizations are led by acting officials, and Lord “has delegated much of her authority back to the military services. So at the moment, there’s limited OSD oversight or assurance that what the military services are developing and procuring actually meets joint objectives.”
A look at some of the job
shuffling happening at DOD
The White House has only filled about 71% of DOD’s Senate-confirmed positions, according to a Washington Post analysis, and OSD leadership is in
McCusker, who resigned from her acting role after her nomination for Senate confirmation was pulled in June. She was filling in for David Norquist, who is now the deputy secretary of defense.
DOD is also missing a confirmed director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, the office that analyzes how DOD’s budgets, plans and strategic objectives match up and highlights potential problems. John Whitley has been
nominated for the role. Kathryn Wheelbarger resigned as acting deputy undersecretary for intelligence and security in June after Trump pulled her nomination and chose Bradley Hansell, an associate director at Boston Consulting Group, for
Senate confirmation. Kenneth Braithwaite, previously the U.S. ambassador to Norway, was confirmed to be the new Navy secretary in May, but the service is missing a nominee for undersecretary. Meanwhile, Gregory Slavonic is serving
in an acting capacity.
Acting Undersecretary of the
Air Force Shon Manasco has been nominated for the permanent job. Matthew Donovan previously served in the role but became undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness in March.
Essye Miller, who had long served as DOD’s principal deputy CIO, retired in June after a nearly four-decade-long career. That move was announced months in advance, however, along with her replacement — John Sherman, formerly the intelligence community’s CIO. n
Kratsios to take over DOD’s
top research role
Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced that U.S. CTO Michael Kratsios will serve as acting undersecretary for research and engineering at the Defense Department after Michael Griffin
resigned in July.
Kratsios was confirmed as U.S.
CTO in August 2019 and in the past year has spearheaded initiatives that include artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles. He will now oversee one of DOD’s biggest research and development budgets at a time when the department is increasing experimentation and fielding prototypes.
Lisa Porter, Griffin’s deputy, also resigned in July. Mark Lewis, director of defense research and engineering for modernization, will take over her previous role in an acting capacity.
— Lauren C. Williams
38 August 2020 FCW.COM
flux from the inspector general’s office to the comptroller.
John Rood resigned as undersecretary of defense for policy in February. The White House has nominated Anthony Tata, a retired Army general who is chief growth officer at Air Data Solutions and a guest commentator on Fox News, for the confirmed position. In the meantime, James Anderson is serving as acting undersecretary. The principal deputy undersecretary for policy is also being filled on an interim basis, with Daniel Green performing those duties.
Thomas Harker, assistant Navy secretary for financial management and comptroller, is now DOD’s acting comptroller. He took over from Elaine