President to Nominate Several to Key DOD Positions

By Terri Moon Cronk

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2014 – President Barack Obama has announced his intent to nominate four people to key Defense Department positions, all of which require Senate confirmation.

They are:

-- Miranda A. A. Ballentine, to be assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment, and logistics;

-- Michael McCord, to be undersecretary of Defense (comptroller);

-- Brian P. McKeon, to be principal deputy undersecretary of Defense for policy, and

-- Christine E. Wormuth, to be undersecretary of defense for policy.

Ballentine is the director of sustainability, renewable energy, sustainable facilities, and stakeholder engagement for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., a position she has held since 2008.

Since 2001, Ballentine has served as a guest lecturer at Duke University, George Washington University and Kenan-Flagler School of Business.

She has a bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University and a master’s of business administration degree from George Washington University.

McCord is presently the principal deputy undersecretary of defense (comptroller), a position he has held since 2009. From 1987 to 2004, McCord served in a number of roles on the Senate Armed Service Committee.

He has a bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

McKeon is deputy assistant to the president, executive secretary of the National Security Council, and chief of staff for the National Security Staff at the White House, a position he has served in since 2012.

McKeon served as the deputy national security advisor to the vice president from 2009 to 2012. He was on the Presidential Transition’s State Department Agency Review Team, and served as the deputy staff director and chief counsel at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1997 to 2009, serving under then-Sen. Joe Biden.

He previously was a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Robert Doumar.

McKeon has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

Wormuth is deputy undersecretary of defense (strategy, plans, and forces) a position she has held since 2012. Before coming to DOD, Wormuth was special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for defense policy on the National Security Staff from 2010 to 2012.

Previously, she served as principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and Americas’ security affairs in the office of the secretary of defense from 2009 to 2010.

Before joining the administration, she was a senior fellow in the international security program at the center for strategic and international studies from 2004 to 2009.

Wormuth received her bachelor’s degree from Williams College and a master’s degree in public policy from the School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland.