WASHINGTON – During his final year in Congress in 2008, then-Sen. Joe Biden heralded his top picks for the nation's elite service academies with a congratulatory news release and led a group of academy-bound students on a personal tour of his domain as Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman.

As vice president, Biden has the power to nominate students to three of the nation's service academies. However, the names of the students he chooses for these plum assignments are now secret.

Neither Biden's staff nor the academies would disclose the identities of his nominees to USA Today, citing student privacy. So it's unclear how the vice president uses his nominations which this year included the daughter of a congressman and an Air Force Academy nominee his office took an interest in.

A USA Today examination of the nomination system found a process with little disclosure or oversight. Each member of Congress and the vice president can have up to five nominees in each military academy the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. But the nominations largely are made in secret with no standard process or criteria for awarding them.

Vice presidential nominations are unique. They are the only nominations that everyone can apply for and anyone can receive. For some American students living overseas, it may be the only option available to them.

As a result, the vice president gets thousands of requests for nominations each year. The service academies say they take the lead in vetting the students and submitting to Biden's office a list of top-scoring applicants who lack only a nomination from another source.

This year, however, Biden's staff took an interest in a particular candidate and let the Air Force know. "His contact called me and said, 'Hey, we've had some express interest in this individual,'" said Jim Dahlmann, the Air Force Academy's congressional liaison.

"Sure enough, he was a qualified candidate, which is great. And he's of interest to the vice president. Well that's easy enough, we'll make sure he's on the list," he said.

The student also had secured nominations from a U.S. senator and a local congresswoman, but academy officials took the extra step of putting the student at the top of the list they submitted to Biden's office, Dahlmann said. "We wanted to make sure they could say, 'Oh yeah, the academy is listening to us.'"

Generally, Dahlmann said, Biden's office is more removed from the process than congressional offices.

At the Naval Academy, the list of vice presidential nominations this year included the daughter of Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md. Harris spokesman Chris Meekins said the younger Harris, a track standout, was recruited for the academy's track team late in the year after congressional application deadlines had passed — and the vice presidential nomination was the only option available.

She was offered an appointment to Annapolis but did not accept it. Harris is now studying at Notre Dame on a track scholarship.

The vice president's office would not discuss any nominations on the record. "In order to protect the privacy of individuals who are nominated to the service academies and consistent with previous administration practices and service academy protocols, we don't release names to the public," said Kendra Barkoff, a Biden spokeswoman.

But some of the academies say Biden's office is more engaged in the process than was his predecessor. "This vice president has been active in making the selections," said Col. Deborah McDonald, West Point's director of admissions. While vice president Dick Cheney's nominations came in before the deadline, Biden's often come in months after the congressional nominations are due Jan. 31 and in some cases as late as June, just before cadets and midshipmen report to the academies.

That additional time allows the vice president's office to ensure that its nominations are going only to candidates who don't have any other source of a nomination. "I'm guessing what they were doing was making sure they were looking at all the congressional nominations that came in to try to and I'm just guessing this expand the candidate pool," she said.

Other vice presidents have taken an interest in their nominations.

Former vice president Walter Mondale, who served in the late 1970s, said his staff took the step of reviewing the applications of nominees recommended by the academies. "I used the staff to vet them to see if there were any embarrassments there," Mondale said. "Most were just fine. ... I think (the academies) were very careful about sending up the best."

Under a separate system of nominations, the president also makes nominations for the children of Medal of Honor winners and members of the armed forces. But those nominations are presidential in name only the entire process is delegated to the Defense Department and the academies, which don't release those names.

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