The full Senate confirmed Mark Esper, secretary of the U.S. Army, as the next secretary of the Department of Defense after the upper chamber’s Armed Services Committee approved by a voice vote his nomination Thursday.
Earlier in the week, Esper faced questioning during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (D-Mass.) who questioned Esper’s past work as former vice president for government relations at Raytheon, the company’s chief lobbyist.
Esper responded to the questions by pointing out his decades of service and commitment to ethics.
Esper also told the committee that artificial intelligence would be his top modernization priority
The Senate panel said it also voted to clear 1,231 other pending nominations across the four service branches, including that of Army Chief of Staff and 2019 Wash100 recipient Gen. Mark Milley for the role of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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