Senate confirms Army, Navy chiefs

The Senate has voted to confirm the officers nominated to be chiefs of the Army and Navy.

As part of a batch of dozens of military nominees, the Senate confirmed Adm. Bill Moran to be chief of naval operations and Gen. James McConville to be Army chief of staff by unanimous consent on Thursday night.

The Senate also confirmed replacements for Moran and McConville, who have been serving as the vice chiefs of their respective services. The new vice chiefs are Adm. Robert Burke for the Navy and Gen. Joseph Martin for the Army.

Moran will take over for Adm. John Richardson, who is expected to retire after the change of command.

{mosads}McConville will take command from Gen. Mark Milley, whom President Trump has nominated to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

At his otherwise genial confirmation hearing earlier this month, McConville was grilled by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on the military’s handling of sexual assault. Gillibrand asked McConville if he would take the issue “as seriously as you would as if it was your daughter,” to which he replied, “Yes.”

Moran, meanwhile, was questioned about climate change at his confirmation hearing. He told senators that climate change is “going to be a problem” for the Navy, adding that the service is working on a plan to prepare bases for issues such as rising waters.

Moran had his hearing alongside the nominee to be the next Marine Corps commandant, Gen. David Berger. Berger was advanced by the Senate Armed Services Committee the same day as Moran and McConville, but was not among the nominees confirmed by the Senate on Thursday.