The Senate on Monday confirmed by unanimous consent Air Force Gen. Paul Selva for a second two-year term as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a position he has held since July 2015.
(Photo: U.S. Air Force)
The Pentagon in May announced Selva’s nomination for reappointment to his position. Before this post, he led U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.
The Defense Department earlier this year began preparing a new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) to set U.S. nuclear arms policy for up to a decade. The Pentagon said the review would be led by the deputy secretary of defense and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, which means Selva will continue to occupy a key role in crafting the final document.
One of the issues to be addressed by the NPR is Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty; Selva in March confirmed on Capitol Hill that the nation has deployed a land-based cruise missile in material breach of the accord, which prohibits the fielding if ground-based cruise and ballistic missiles with flight ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.
The NPR, expected to be complete by the end of this year, will outline U.S. response options to the violation.