The White House announced Tuesday that President Biden will nominate State Department Counselor Derek Chollet to be the Pentagon’s next top policy official.
Chollet, if confirmed, will succeed Colin Kahl, who stepped down from his post as under secretary of defense for policy earlier this month.
“It has been the best honor to serve the American individuals with [Secretary of State Antony Blinken] and the dedicated State Department team. I’m humbled by the chance to return to the Department of Defense and work with [Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin] on our nation’s security. I sit up for working with the Senate on my confirmation,” Chollet said in a social media post on Tuesday.
Prior to moving into his current role as a senior adviser to Secretary of State Antony Blinken in January 2021, Chollet served within the Pentagon throughout the Obama administration as assistant secretary of defense for international affairs throughout the Obama administration.
The White House noted, from 2016 to 2020, Chollet was executive vp at The German Marshall Fund of america.
Throughout the Obama administration, Chollet also frolicked as a special assistant to the president and as senior director for strategic planning on the National Security Council staff.
Chollet’s nomination is about to face Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) ongoing block of nominations and promotions on the Pentagon over his opposition to the department’s abortion policy, which Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said is causing a “readiness issue” (Defense Every day, July 21).
Kahl in May announced his plans to resign this summer as under secretary of defense for policy, a position he has held since April 2021 (Defense Every day, May 17).
The planned resignation date allowed Kahl to stay in his role as Austin’s senior policy adviser through NATO’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania earlier this month.
Sasha Baker, the deputy top policy official on the Pentagon, is currently serving as under secretary of defense for policy in an acting capability.