{"id":121681,"date":"2021-02-09T02:43:51","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T07:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=121681"},"modified":"2021-02-09T08:44:51","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T13:44:51","slug":"senate-confirms-kathleen-hicks-as-deputy-defense-secretary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-confirms-kathleen-hicks-as-deputy-defense-secretary\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Confirms Kathleen Hicks as Deputy Defense Secretary"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsenate-confirms-kathleen-hicks-as-deputy-defense-secretary%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=121681&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Senate late Monday confirmed Kathleen Hicks, a former Obama administration official, as Deputy Secretary of Defense.<\/p>\n<p>The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) confirmed Hicks for the position by a voice vote after approving her nomination on Feb. 4.<\/p>\n<p>Hicks, 50, was previously a deputy undersecretary of defense under the Obama administration. More recently, she led Biden\u2019s transition team at the Pentagon.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to her nomination as deputy defense secretary, she led the\u00a0international security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and was also the think tank\u2019s senior vice president.<\/p>\n<p>At a hearing to consider her nomination last week, Hicks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armed-services.senate.gov\/hearings\/21-02-02-nomination_hicks\">told<\/a> the\u00a0Senate Armed Services Committee that China and Russia are among the top challenges for the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArmed conflict between the United States and China is not desirable, and it is not inevitable. The U.S. military plays a critical role in preventing that outcome,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Recently-appointed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, a retired military general, had pledged to recuse himself from any decisions related to U.S. company Raytheon Technologies while serving as defense secretary because he previously served on the defense contractor\u2019s board of directors.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3663999\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Austin1-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Retired General Lloyd Austin prepares to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing to be the next Secretary of Defense, in Washington, on Jan. 19, 2021. (Jim Lo Scalzo\/Pool via REUTERS)<\/p>\n<p>As such, programmatic decisions involving Raytheon will be overseen by Hicks, and involve at least two nuclear initiatives: a new nuclear cruise missile called the \u201cLong Range Standoff Weapon\u201d (LRSO) for which Raytheon is a prime contractor; and a replacement program for the country\u2019s intercontinental ballistic missiles called the \u201cGround Based Strategic Deterrent\u201d (GBSD), for which Raytheon\u2019s subsidiary is a subcontractor.<\/p>\n<p>Hicks is the first woman to be confirmed as the country\u2019s deputy defense secretary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCongratulations to Kathleen Hicks on her historic confirmation as the new Deputy Secretary of Defense!\u201d Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-R.I.) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenJackReed\/status\/1358972092830613506?s=20\">wrote<\/a> on Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe is a highly regarded defense policy expert who has served in multiple administrations with integrity and distinction,\u201d Reed said in a statement to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2021\/02\/09\/senate-confirms-kathleen-hicks-as-dods-no-2\/\">Defense News<\/a>. \u201cShe is a true professional. I am pleased she will join Secretary Austin in leading the Department of Defense forward, defending our nation, and upholding our values.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hicks told senators at her confirmation hearing last week that her top priorities would include reforming and modernizing the military, including supporting\u00a0innovation in areas involving\u00a0hypersonics, quantum computing. and other technologies to aid warfighters. She added that she would prioritize modernizing the nuclear triad, although did not elaborate on any specific weapons programs.<\/p>\n<div class=\" mco-body-item mco-body-type-text\">\n<p class=\"element element-paragraph\">\u201cMy view is that the triad has served us very well, it has created stability and it has value,\u201d Hicks said.<\/p>\n<p>She noted that decisions on U.S. nuclear policy would be deferred to Austin and Biden.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Hicks also said at the confirmation hearing that she is concerned by the \u201cextreme consolidation\u201d of weapons producers and suppliers in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, I am concerned,\u201d\u00a0she said when asked about the matter by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), adding, \u201cextreme consolidation does create challenges for innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to have a lot of different good ideas out there. That\u2019s our competitive advantage over authoritarian states like China, and Russia. And so if we move all competition out, obviously, that\u2019s a challenge for the taxpayer. But it\u2019s also a challenge in terms of the innovation piece,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Blumenthal had mentioned that the\u00a0number of submarine suppliers had decreased over recent decades from 17,000 to 5,000 and how the phenomenon suggested that there are problems facing the defense industrial base.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m hoping you will focus on the supply chain that is vitally important to suppliers like Electric Boat or Raytheon or any of our major sources of supply,\u201d Blumenthal said. He also noted that Hicks\u00a0had committed to help small suppliers as well as develop new suppliers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Senate late Monday confirmed Kathleen Hicks, a former Obama administration official, as Deputy Secretary of Defense. The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) confirmed Hicks for the position by a &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1892953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4938,3998,4046,5924,5921,3740],"class_list":["post-121681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-confirms","tag-defense","tag-deputy","tag-hicks","tag-kathleen","tag-senate"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1892953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}