After nearly six years as the civilian chief of the service, Army Secretary John McHugh plans to step down before November, the Pentagon announced on June 8.
McHugh has held the position since being nominated by President Obama in 2009. At the time he represented New York as a Republican member of the House of Representatives. He is the 21st person to hold the Army’s top civilian position.
“Secretary McHugh has been in discussions both with the Secretary of Defense and the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and expressed his desire several weeks ago to depart as Secretary of the Army,” before Nov. 1, according to a Defense Department statement.
“Mr. McHugh expressed his gratitude to the president and his appreciation to the Secretary of Defense and, most importantly, the men and women of the United States Army for the tremendous honor to serve as Secretary for these many years.”
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter praised McHugh’s leadership during his tenure, which included the end of the Iraq War, de-escalation of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and budget woes that have caused the service to downsize significantly and have threatened modernization efforts he has championed.
“Secretary McHugh has been a tremendous public servant for decades, and he has helped lead the Army through a period of challenge and change,” Carter said. “There will be much time in the coming months to appropriately celebrate his many accomplishments, but for now I will just say that every soldier is better off because of his hard work and vision, and so is the country.”
McHugh has presided over an Army that is facing dire modernization and personnel challenges after 13 years of war to include shepherding programs like the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) through a year of sequestration, a threat that still looms in fiscal 2016.
He was at the Army’s helm also when it developed the controversial Aviation Restructure Initiative that would shuffle the service’s rotorcraft fleet between the active and reserve components.