WASHINGTON — Thomas Harker, the current U.S. Navy comptroller, has been named the acting comptroller for the Pentagon. Harker was “designated the authority” of the undersecretary of defense (comptroller) role on June 26, according to a department spokesman, following the official resignation of acting Comptroller Elaine McCusker. Harker will also continue to serve as the Navy comptroller, as job he has held since being sworn into office in January 2018. A 20-year veteran of the Coast Guard, Harker previously worked in financial management roles in the Department of Veterans Affairs as well as the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The […]
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WASHINGTON — When Elaine McCusker, Kathryn Wheelbarger and Lisa Porter announced their resignations from the Department of Defense within a week of each other, it represented more than just the opening up of more empty seats in the Pentagon. McCusker, the acting comptroller, and Wheelbarger, the acting assistant secretary for international security affairs, were two of the highest-powered women in a building where gender balance in top roles has historically been a foreign concept. And their exits, so close together and under similar circumstances, led to talk in national security circles about the number of women left in top jobs at […]
WASHINGTON — Kathryn Wheelbarger, a primary contact in the Pentagon for allies and partners abroad, has resigned six days after having her name pulled for the department’s no. 2 civilian intelligence role, according to a Reuters report. She becomes the second Pentagon official to resign this week, under similar circumstances — with both having had nominations for new jobs reportedly scuttled by White House staffers over loyalty concerns to President Donald Trump. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Wheelbarger started in the administration as principal deputy assistant secretary for international security affairs. Since October 2018, she […]
WASHINGTON — Elaine McCusker, who has been serving as the Pentagon’s acting comptroller for 18 months, has resigned, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper announced Tuesday. “Today Elaine McCusker submitted her resignation as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) effective Friday, June 26, 2020,” Esper said in a statement. “Since joining the Department of Defense, Elaine has worked tirelessly to ensure that our budgeting and audit processes give full value to the taxpayer while meeting the enormous security needs of our nation as well as the men and women who serve it.” “I am grateful for her dedication to public service and […]