Army Secretary Mark Esper is set to become acting defense secretary starting next week, meaning his deputy, former Army Ranger Ryan McCarthy, will assume his duties on Monday, Stars and Stripes reports.
McCarthy, who is the undersecretary of the Army as well as a former infantry officer, previously served as the non-permanent Army secretary from Aug. 1 to Nov. 16, 2017, when Esper was sworn into office. Esper will assume the role of acting defense secretary from Patrick Shanahan at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, though he will still retain the title of Army secretary.
“By law, because there is currently a sitting secretary of the Army, [McCarthy] can only use the title, ‘performing duties as’ and not acting secretary of the Army,” said an official who spoke to Stars and Stripes on the condition of anonymity.
Two defense officials confirmed that McCarthy will fill the role for now, but President Donald Trump has reportedly not decided whether to formally nominate him to the post permanently. He is expected to name Esper his nominee for secretary of defense, but Esper would then not be allowed to serve as acting secretary, according to the 1998 Federal Vacancies Act.
McCarthy served in the Army from 1997 to 2002, and led a platoon in the 75th Ranger Regiment, an elite division, during the initial part of the war in Afghanistan. He later worked as an aide on Capitol Hill, followed by the Pentagon, where he was special assistant to then-defense secretary Robert Gates, and eventually became a vice president at Lockheed Martin.