President Obama announced Friday that he plans to nominate Eric Fanning as Secretary of the Army. As secretary, he would head the Army in partnership with Gen. Mark Milley, named the branch’s top general last month.
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“Eric brings many years of proven experience and exceptional leadership to this new role”, Mr Obama said in a statement.
The move is not a surprise, as Defense Secretary Ashton Carter moved Fanning into the open role of acting undersecretary of the Army earlier this summer.
Fanning has been acting undersecretary of the Army since June.
There are cultural and social changes, too, as the Army allows women into its elite Ranger regiment and lifts the ban on transgender troops. The Army is also coping with a spike in suicides related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is dealing with aging equipment and tight budgets. Only one-third of its members have sufficient training to go into a war zone, and it has not developed any major new weapons programs since 2000. “The Army is still living off equipment from the Reagan years….”
“[Fanning] understands how the Pentagon works and how to get things done in the Pentagon”.
Fanning’s nomination is the “perfect choice”, according to the advocacy group Human Rights Campaign.
Thorn urged the Senate Armed Services Committee, headed by John McCain, to quickly confirm Fanning as secretary. In a 2013 interview with the Washington Blade, Fanning said he supports openly transgender service and, as has now come to pass, adding sexual orientation to the list of protected classes under the Military Equal Opportunity policy.
A specialist on national security issues for more than 24 years, Mr Fanning must still be confirmed by the Senate, Reuters said.
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Matthew Thorn, interim executive director of OutServe-SLDN, said he’s “thrilled” with Fanning’s nomination to the No. 1 civilian post in the Army.
