President Barack Obama intends to nominate Eric Fanning to become the next Army secretary and others to key Defense Department positions, the White House said Friday.
Obama intends to nominate Ricardo Aguilera to become assistant secretary of the Air Force for financial management; Janine Davidson to become under secretary of the Navy; Lisa Disbrow as under secretary of the Air Force and Jennifer O’Connor to become general counsel.
Fanning has served as acting under secretary of the Army since June. He has served as special assistant to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter since March, including as chief of staff to Carter from March to June. From 2013 to 2015, Fanning served as under secretary of the Air Force and as acting Air Force secretary in 2015. He previously served as a deputy under secretary of the Navy from 2009 to 2013.
Aguilera has been a professor of practice at the National Defense University since 2010. He previously served in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) as special assistant to the deputy comptroller for program and budget from 2008 to 2010 and associate director of contingencies and international affairs from 2006 to 2008.
Disbrow has served as acting Air Force under secretary since April and as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller since July 2014. From 2009 to 2014, Disbrow served as the vice director for force structure, resources and assessment in the Joint Staff’s J-8 Directorate.
Davidson is a senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, a position she has held since 2014. From 2013 to 2014, she served as a member of the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force and as an assistant professor at George Mason University.
Their nominations are subject to Senate confirmation.