Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman says that the transition from outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to nominee Robert Gates will work smoothly with all Pentagon staffers focusing on the job at hand. Whitman elaborated: “We are engaged in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We’re in the midst of a budget cycle, so the personnel of the department are going about their business in the serious type of fashion that the American people would expect them to.” Rumsfeld, he said, will remain in his job until replaced. The Senate is not slated to reconvene until Nov. 13, and one of the first things on the Senate Armed Services Committee’s agenda for the lame duck session currently is a Nov. 15 status session on the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost—a trailblazer and one of the first 10 women to reach a four-star rank across the U.S. military—retired and passed control of U.S. Transportation Command to Air Force Gen. Randall Reed on Oct. 4, finishing an eventful tenure at TRANSCOM.