WASHINGTON – The president will name a Republican congressman this morning to replace Army Secretary Pete Geren, who represented Fort Worth as a Democrat in Congress before joining the Bush team at the Pentagon.
An administration official confirmed that Barack Obama will name Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., to serve as the civilian Army chief. An announcement is scheduled just before 11 a.m. CDT.
Geren, 57, was elected to the U.S. House in 1989 to replace former House Speaker Jim Wright, and served there until 1997.
A conservative Democrat, he accepted President George W. Bush’s offer to work at as a special assistant to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and he started work one week before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
He served as acting Secretary of the Air Force from July to November 2005 and Under Secretary of the Army starting in February 2006.
The Senate confirmed Geren as the nation’s 20th Secretary of the Army in July 2007, and he agreed to remain while Obama sought a replacement.
With soldiers facing extended deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, Geren has spent much of his tenure wrestling with morale and readiness issues.
The Army secretary oversees a $170 billion annual budget and a workforce of more than 1 million soldiers and more than a half-million civilian employees and contract workers.
McHugh, elected in 1992, is the senior Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, a panel Geren served on during his time in Congress.
If confirmed, McHugh would be Obama’s third Republican in a senior post, though unlike Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the former Illinois congressman, he would not be part of the Cabinet. Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is awaiting confirmation as ambassador to China.
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