WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama announced he is nominating Acting Under Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning to replace Army Secretary John McHugh, which would make Fanning the first openly gay civilian service secretary.
"Eric brings many years of proven experience and exceptional leadership to this new role. I am grateful for his commitment to our men and women in uniform, and I am confident he will help lead America's Soldiers with distinction," Obama said in an announcement Friday. "I look forward to working with Eric to keep our Army the very best in the world."
Fanning has been serving as the acting under secretary of the Army since June. Before that, he served as Carter’s chief of staff. If confirmed by the Senate, Fanning will succeed Army Secretary John McHugh, who has said he will leave the post by Nov. 1 after six years on the job.
The announcement ended months of speculation around Fanning, considered the leading candidate and one of the most capable leaders in the Pentagon. In June, Defense News was first to report Fanning was the leading candidate.
Fanning now faces cCongressional confirmation.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter sent out a statement Friday congratulating Fanning and calling him as an "excellent choice" by Obama.
"Eric served as my first chief of staff at the Pentagon, and it has been a privilege over the course of my career to work alongside him and watch him develop into one of our country's most knowledgeable, dedicated, and experienced public servants," Carter said. "I know he will strengthen our Army, build on its best traditions, and prepare our ground forces to confront a new generation of challenges."
Fanning became Air Force undersecretary in April 2013, served several months as acting secretary while the confirmation of now-Secretary Deborah Lee James was stuck in Congress, and was deputy undersecretary of the Navy and its deputy chief management officer from 2009-2013.
Fanning had spent the past several months as Carter's right-hand man, helping to organize his boss' transition to the Pentagon's top spot and managing day-to-day activities. It is unclear who would replace Fanning in that role.
The nomination presumptively rounds out Carter's leadership team in the Pentagon, beside Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs; Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, and Gen. Mark Milley, the Army chief of staff.
Fanning's nomination comes during a critical transition period for the Army, which has not only seen key leadership changes at the top but also continues to struggle with increasingly tight budgets and growing demands for troops all around the world.
The service just last month welcomed Gen. Mark Milley as its new chief of staff. Patrick Murphy, the first Iraq war veteran elected to Congress, is pending Senate confirmation to be the service’s next under secretary.
With the looming threat of even deeper cuts beginning Oct. 1 as a backdrop, the Army has already cut 80,000 soldiers from its active-duty force. Another 40,000 must go by the end of fiscal year 2018 for an eventual end-strength of 450,000.
If sequestration returns in fiscal 2016, which starts Oct. 1, the Army could be forced to cut an additional 30,000 soldiers.
If confirmed, Fanning will be in charge of a combat-hardened Army that continues to respond to contingencies around the world even as it recovers from more than a decade of war and back-to-back deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
In recent months, Russian aggression has pushed the Army to send more troops to Europe to train with and reassure America's allies. The rise of the Islamic State terror group has forced the return of American soldiers to Iraq. At the same time, the Army is still deployed in Afghanistan, and there are soldiers scattered across the Asia-Pacific region, Africa, South America and the Middle East.
If Fanning is confirmed as Army secretary, he will work alongside Milley, who has already hit the ground running since being sworn in Aug. 14 as the Army's top general. Milley, who has said his top priority is readiness, has already visited commanders and soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan, Europe and Asia.
Fanning also could find himself working closely with Murphy again if both men are confirmed. Fanning and Murphy were two key political drivers for the repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" law, and both are now poised for the top two civilian jobs in the Army.
Prior to joining the administration, Fanning was deputy director of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. He worked for Business Executives for National Security, first as the Washington Rregional Ddirector in 2001 and then as Ssenior Vvice Ppresident for Sstrategic Ddevelopment from 2001- to 2007. He was a senior associate at Robinson, Lerer & Montgomery in New York and an associate producer at CBS News.
A graduate of Dartmouth College. Fanning began his career in public service serving as an associate director of political affairs at Tthe White House in 1996, was special assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1993-1996, and as a research assistant for the House Armed Services Committee from 1991-1993.
Michelle Tan contributed to this report.
Email: jgould@defensenews.com
Twitter: @reporterjoe
Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.
