Christine H. Fox Named US Deputy Defense Secretary

Christine H. Fox Named US Deputy Defense Secretary

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced that American President Barack Obama has appointed Christine H. Fox to serve as acting deputy defense secretary.

Fox is a “brilliant defense thinker and proven manager,” Hagel said.

“Over the last five years, Christine has played a key role in helping shape solutions to the core challenges facing the Department of Defense,” a senior defense official said.

Secretary Hagel relied on Fox’s judgment and deep analytical expertise during the Strategic Choices and Management Review earlier this year, the official said.

“As a key leader of the Strategic Choices and Management Review, she helped identify the challenges, choices, and opportunities for reform facing the department during this period of unprecedented budget uncertainty,” Hagel said.

Fox’s appointment enables Hagel to add a senior manager to his leadership team at a pivotal moment for the department and permits the existing senior management team to remain in place and continue their critical leadership of the military services and DOD components, the official said.

“She will be able to help me shape our priorities from day one because she knows the intricacies of the department’s budget, programs and global operations better than anyone,” Hagel said.

Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter departed yesterday, and Fox is scheduled to assume her duties today, making her the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in the Defense Department. Until June, she served as the director of DOD’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation.

Senior Defense Department, White House and congressional leaders bade farewell to Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Tuesday in a Pentagon ceremony.

“He became known as the superhero of sequestration,” Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said. “We did respect his willingness to put skin in the game, to be personally invested and to think big when many around him were thinking small.”

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Press Release, December 4, 2013; Image: US DoD