Senate confirms former Ranger as new Army secretary

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Ryan McCarthy to be secretary of the Army, moving to permanently fill a number of Pentagon posts that were affected by the defense secretary shuffle over the summer.

McCarthy, a former Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan, has been acting secretary for months since his predecessor, Mark Esper, was nominated and confirmed to be Pentagon chief.

A former vice president at Lockheed Martin, McCarthy was a senior aide to former defense secretary Robert Gates and also was a Capitol Hill staffer.

Pentagon leadership has been in flux this year, after Jim Mattis resigned as defense secretary in late December. But Congress has been filling slots, including confirmation of the Joint Chiefs vice chairman Thursday and an expected vote on Air Force secretary soon.