President Barack Obama Tuesday tapped a Republican lawmaker with extensive experience with military issues to be the secretary of the army, the service's top civilian post.
If confirmed, Representative John McHugh, a Republican from upstate New York, would give the Pentagon a bipartisan advocate in seeking congressional support for its budgets and modernization programs.
"John shares my belief that a sustainable national security strategy must include a bipartisan consensus at home, and he brings patriotism and a pragmatism that has won him respect on both sides of the aisle," Obama said at a White House event to announce the nomination.
McHugh would serve under another Republican, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has used his bi-partisan appeal to manage a smooth wartime transition from the previous administration of former president George W Bush.
Gates has called for a shift in the army's priorities from conventional warfare to fighting the kind of insurgencies it now faces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
As the army's top civilian overseer, McHugh would be instrumental in winning congressional support for the changes while bringing along an army that has historically resisted the counter-insurgency mission.
"If confirmed by the Senate, I'll do everything I possibly can to work in concert with the army leadership, to provide you and Secretary Gates the broadest based and most accurate and most informative information," McHugh said.
McHugh, 60, who has served 16 years in the House of Representatives, is currently the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. He also has served on the House Intelligence Committee.
His district includes Fort Drum, New York, headquarters of the army's 10th Mountain Division. He served on the board of visitors of the US Military Academy at West Point.
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