WASHINGTON - -President Barack Obama nominated yesterday as secretary of the Army a nine-term Republican congressman whose upstate New York district is home to the 10th Mountain Division, which is said to lead all other units in overseas deployments.
Rep. John M. McHugh, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, becomes the second Republican that Obama has selected for a senior Defense Department post. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, appointed to the top Pentagon post by President George W. Bush, was asked to stay on in the new administration.
If confirmed, McHugh is likely to focus on issues that affect the quality of life of soldiers and their families such as medical care, pay, family support and retention of experienced young officers and noncoms.
Obama said McHugh has been "a champion of men and women in uniform. ... As secretary of the Army, he will ensure that our soldiers are trained and equipped to meet the challenges of the time."
McHugh, 60, has not served in the armed forces but has served on the board of visitors at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
"Republicans and Democrats alike have put aside those differences and worked for the common good" when it comes to support of the military, he said. "The Army's always had a special place in my heart."
McHugh was first elected to Congress in 1992. Now the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, which oversees the Pentagon's budget and policies, he has also served on the House Select Committee on Intelligence.
McHugh is a graduate of Utica College of Syracuse University, with a master's degree in public administration from the State University of New York at Albany.
