US President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday selected two former senior officials for top positions at the Pentagon, according to the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition team.
As per an official release, Biden has selected Kathleen Hicks, who currently leads his Pentagon transition team and works as a strategist at the Washington-based think tank, as his nominee to be deputy defense secretary.
Hicks would become the first woman to hold the second-highest-ranking job at Pentagon.
Besides Hicks, the President-elect has picked a former Pentagon official for the Middle East, Colin Kohl, his former national security advisor, to be undersecretary of defense for policy.
"Dr Kath Hicks and Dr Colin Kahl have the broad experience and crisis-tested judgment necessary to help tackle the litany of challenges we face today and all those we may confront tomorrow," said President-elect Joe Biden.
Lauding the new appointees of the Pentagon, Secretary-designate Lloyd Austin said, "Dr Kathleen Hicks and Dr Colin Kahl are public servants to their core -- and they have spent their distinguished careers advancing the safety and security of our nation.
Earlier, Biden had announced his decision to nominate retired General Lloyd Austin for the position of defense secretary.
( With inputs from ANI )
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