The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on Jan. 24 approved the nomination of former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin to lead the Department of Defense’s new research and engineering shop.
The committee also favorably reported the nomination of William Roper to be Air Force acquisition chief. Roper is currently director of DoD’s Strategic Capabilities Office.
The nominations, approved by voice vote, now head to the full Senate for its consideration.
At their confirmation hearing Jan. 18, both nominees told the SASC that they favor more prototyping for major acquisition programs to reduce risk (Defense Daily, Jan. 18).
If confirmed, Griffin will be the first undersecretary of defense for research and engineering under a congressional mandate to separate that job from the undersecretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L). AT&L Undersecretary Ellen Lord is overseeing the breakup, which DoD is supposed to finish by Feb. 1 to increase the department’s focus on innovation.