Washington: The US Senate has approved the appointment of President Joe Biden’s candidate for the position of Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks, making her the first woman approved by the House of Representatives to hold this position.
The US site, “The Hill”, concerned with congressional news, said that senators approved Hicks’ appointment through a vote on Monday night, making it the second Biden official in the Defense Department to be approved by the Senate about a week after her appointment session.
Nuclear weapons modernization
During the confirmation hearing, Hicks said she supported nuclear weapons modernization, and personally supported the three pillars of the nuclear triad, but did not endorse any specific weapons programs.
The term “nuclear triad” refers to the methods of launching nuclear weapons from the strategic nuclear treasury, which consists of 3 components, a strategic bomber, ICBMs, and ballistic missiles launched from submarines.
She explained that her participation as Deputy Minister will be in programmatic decisions, and that she will respect the decisions of Secretary Lloyd Austin and President Joe Biden, on US nuclear policy issues.
To reduce the defense budget
Hicks left the door open to the issue of reducing the defense budget, saying that while the country “can afford the defense (budget) costs it needs,” it believes that there are ways to reduce the budget without compromising national security.
The Pentagon has been keen to present relatively stable budgets for the next few years, due to external pressures such as the inflation of US debt, but the progressive Democrats are expected to press for a budget cut of at least 10%.
And when she is sworn in, Hicks will become the first deputy secretary of defense to be approved by the Senate, bearing in mind that Christine Fox held the same acting position for 6 months during the administration of former President Barack Obama, until she retired in 2014, without her name being put forward. The Senate to confirm her appointment.
A former official in the Obama administration
Hicks headed Biden’s team responsible for coordinating the transition in the Pentagon, and previously served in the Defense Department under Obama and held the position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for strategic affairs, planning and forces.
Before being nominated for the position of Deputy Minister of Defense, she led the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Hicks’ nomination received attention both because of the history-making aspect, or in view of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s pledge to empower civilians in the ministry like her, to allay the concerns of senators worried about his being a recently retired general.
Austin has also pledged to disassociate himself from decisions regarding US defense systems company Raytheon Technologies throughout his tenure as he previously served on its board of directors.
This means that decisions regarding Raytheon will be the responsibility of Hicks, and this includes major nuclear weapons programs, such as the new cruise missile known as the “long-range confrontation weapon”, for which the company is a major supplier, and the replacement of the ICBMs known as the “deterrent” Ground Strategist, whose sub-manufacture is a Raytheon company.
Malay News
International Desk
