The full Senate is expected next week to confirm Mark Esper, secretary of the U.S. Army and a 2019 Wash100 winner, 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, Reuters reported.
SASC Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said he expects the Senate to kick off the confirmation vote as early as Monday.
Esper, former vice president for government relations at Raytheon (NYSE: RTN), said during his confirmation hearing Tuesday 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.
