Pete Geren Confirmed As Secretary Of Army

Former Texas Congressman Preston “Pete” Geren, who succeeded former U.S. House Speaker Jim Wright as one of the Congressmen from Tarrant County in 1989, has been confirmed as Secretary of the Army:

In assuming his fifth job in the Pentagon since 2001, Geren becomes the civilian leader of a war-time force strained by combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Geren has served as Acting Secretary since March after then-Secretary Francis J. Harvey was fired over the Walter Reed Scandal. Bush nominated him as full-time secretary on May 24.

“He’s a good man,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “I was a little bit worried that he might get caught up in some of the politics swirling around Washington. He’s a guy that nobody had a problem with.”

Geren joined the Pentagon as a special assistant to then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was forced out late last year over his handling of the Iraq war. Geren also served as acting secretary of the Air Force for four months in 2005, and as Under Secretary of The Army, the post he held before being named acting secretary.

The latest job looms as his most challenging, making Geren the chief civilian steward for a fighting force battered by four years of war. Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, former Army chief of staff, warned a congressional hearing late last year that the pace of deployment is threatening to “break” the active-duty Army.

In a June confirmation hearing, Geren promising that he would be an “advocate” for soldiers and families to “make sure their voices are heard.”

Geren and Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, a former Fort Worth aerospace executive, have emerged as proven survivors in a Pentagon hierarchy under siege over an unpopular war. England formerly served as Secretary of the Navy.

The two Texans were brought into the defense department by Rumsfeld and, after six years, have outlasted their former boss as well as other departed Pentagon figures. Both have forged good relations with lawmakers in both parties and appear to work well with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the former Texas A&M President who replaced Rumsfeld.

As a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, Geren led efforts to establish the Fort Worth Naval Air Station as the country’s first joint reserve base on a site formerly occupied by Carswell Air Force Base.

Yet another Texan assumes a cabinet-level office. Between the two Bush administrations and the Clinton and Johnson administrations (which featured Texans in prominent cabinet roles), I’d be willing to bet that Texas now rivals Virginia (or whatever other state it was) that formerly held the lead for “most cabinet members.”