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McHugh confirmed as Army secretary

The Senate confirmed a Republican lawmaker to be the new Army secretary on Wednesday night, ending a summer-long deadlock involving concerns the Obama administration might send detainees to Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

John McHugh, whose congressional district in upstate New York included Fort Drum, was the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee when President Obama tapped him to be Army secretary.

Although that post made McHugh the top Republican voice on national security issues, his nomination to head the Army received bipartisan praise. Sen. Jack Reed, R-R.I., an Army veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called McHugh an “excellent pick.”

“John McHugh has a distinguished record of service in Congress and will be a strong leader for our men and women in the Army and their families,” said Reed, a West Point graduate.

In what is beginning to look like a tradition of bipartisanship in top Pentagon posts, McHugh succeeds Pete Geren, a former congressman who was a Democrat serving as Army secretary during a Republican administration, and joins Bush administration holdover Defense Secretary Robert Gates, another Republican.

The Senate was prepared to approve McHugh’s nomination in July after he sailed through Senate Armed Services Committee questions. But a hold was placed on his nomination — along with all other defense and justice nominees — by two Kansas senators, Republicans Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback, who wanted assurances from the Defense Department that detainees held at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who not be transferred to the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, said the White House was working on an agreement with the two Kansas senators.

McHugh’s nomination was confirmed by unanimous consent. The Senate also by unanimous concept approved Joseph Westphal to be under secretary of the Army and Juan Garcia III to be an assistant Navy secretary.

A date for McHugh’s swearing in the Army’s civilian leader was not announced.

In a statement, Brownback and Roberts did not say they received a promise detainees would never be sent to Kansas, but said they do not expect it to happen.

Discussions with senior Obama administration officials provided “the opportunity to present the concerns of many Kansans regarding the challenges and obstacles to moving detainees to Fort Leavenworth, along with the severe negative impact it would have on the educational mission of the fort and our relations with foreign nations,” the statement says.

“We believe that the Administration has a good understanding of obstacles and concerns and is giving them proper consideration. In a good faith effort to continue moving this dialogue forward, we are releasing our holds on all Department of Defense and Department of Justice nominees. We are confident that because of this good faith dialogue, detainees will not be transferred to Fort Leavenworth.” the statement says.

Administration officials and Senate aides expressed concern the hold on nominations by Brownback and Roberts could be replicated by other senators who also want assurances no detainees will be sent to their states.