NS&D Monitor
8/1/2014

IN CONGRESS

The Senate is continuing to slowly confirm the Obama Administration’s nuclear nominees, clearing Brian McKeon as the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy this week. He was confirmed by voice vote. McKeon, who was nominated to the position in January, had his nomination held up over GOP concerns about potential Russian violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty and whether the Administration informed the Senate of the potential violations during debate in 2010 on the New START Treaty. McKeon has served since 2012 as the 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. Previously, he worked as the Deputy National Security Advisor to the Vice President from 2009 to 2012, and served as the deputy staff director and chief counsel on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1997 to 2009.

The Senate also confirmed career diplomat John Francis Tefft as the new U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation later in the week, approving his nomination by a voice vote July 31. Tefft served as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine from 2009 to 2013 and as the U.S. Ambassador to Georgia from 2005 to 2009. Since 2013 Tefft has been executive director of the RAND Business Leaders Forum at the RAND Corporation. The head post in Moscow has been vacant since former ambassador Michael McFaul resigned earlier this year.