Senate committee sets Tuesday hearing on Pentagon leadership

In this July 8, 2019, photo, acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper waits for the arrival of Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to the Pentagon. The Pentagon says that Esper expects to be formally nominated for the top job very soon, setting off a complicated leadership replacement shuffle at top Army, Navy and senior Defense Department levels(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON — The Senate Armed Services Committee has scheduled a hearing Tuesday on Mark Esper’s expected nomination as defence secretary. The committee says it’s “pre-nomination paperwork” from the White House regarding the now-acting Pentagon chief.

President Donald Trump has said he intends to nominate Esper to the permanent job, replacing James Mattis, who resigned as defence secretary late last year. Esper was Army secretary when he was elevated.

Patrick Shanahan, who was Mattis’ deputy, served as acting secretary for about six months but stepped down last month before he was formally nominated for the top job.

The committee chairman, GOP Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, says the country needs Senate-confirmed leadership at the Pentagon “and quickly.”

Inhofe says senators will act “expeditiously” to consider Esper, while upholding the Senate’s constitutional advice-and-consent responsibilities.

The Associated Press