DOD announces new appointments

The Pentagon today announced the appointments of several senior officials:

* Molly Walsh has been named senior adviser to the Pentagon acquisition chief. She previously worked as a senior policy and research analyst at the Logistics Management Institute.

* Derek Maurer, who was the confirmations lead on the DOD beachhead team, has been appointed senior adviser to the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs.

* Christopher Shank, who was policy and coalitions director for the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, has been tapped to serve as senior adviser to the Air Force secretary and under secretary.

* Timothy Jost has been selected to serve as the comptroller's director for resource issues. He previously worked for consulting company Red Curve Solutions.

* Thomas Alexander, who previously worked as chief counsel to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has been named deputy assistant secretary of defense for counter narcotics and global threats.

* Anita Blair has been appointed deputy assistant secretary of defense for civilian personnel policy. She was most recently the deputy assistant secretary for human resources and chief human capital officer at the Treasury Department.

* Amber Smith has been named deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for outreach. She was most recently an adviser for the Defense and Veterans' Affairs departments on the presidential transition team.