Griffin and Roper to headline nomination hearing

By Tony Bertuca / January 16, 2018 at 12:10 PM

Several nominees for key Pentagon appointments are slated to appear Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, including former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, who has been tapped to serve as the under secretary of defense for research and engineering, and Will Roper, the current director of the Strategic Capabilities Office, who has been selected to serve as the Air Force's assistant secretary for acquisition.

If confirmed, Griffin will be DOD's de facto chief innovation officer and will assist Ellen Lord, the Pentagon's acquisition chief, in reorganizing the department's procurement system.

Roper, who has been charged with driving innovation into existing weapons systems while at the helm of the SCO, would fill an Air Force role that has been vacant since 2015 and would oversee the service's effort to more rapidly acquire cutting-edge technology.

Also scheduled to appear are Phyllis Bayer, who has been nominated to be assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment, and John Henderson, who has been picked to be assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and energy.

Bayer previously served as chief of staff in the office of the assistant secretary of defense for readiness. Henderson most recently served as the Army Corps of Engineers' commander of the Omaha District.

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