The U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter, the Royal Navy Type-23 Duke-class frigate HMS Kent, the fast combat support ship USNS Supply, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Roosevelt conduct joint operations in the Arctic Ocean, on May 5, 2020.US NAVY/Reuters
U.S. President Joe Biden has chosen Admiral Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy, a senior administration official said Friday. If confirmed, she would be the first woman to be a U.S. military service chief.
Mr. Biden’s decision to tap Adm. Franchetti, an admiral with broad command and executive experience, goes against the recommendation of his Pentagon chief, but he is selecting an officer whom insiders had considered the top choice for the job. Adm. Franchetti, the current vice-chief of operations for the Navy, would become the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recommended that Mr. Biden select Admiral Samuel Paparo, the current commander of the Navy’s Pacific Fleet, several U.S. officials said last month. But instead, the administration official said Mr. Biden is nominating Adm. Paparo to lead U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the nomination has not been made public.
The administration official said Mr. Biden chose Adm. Franchetti based on the broad scope of her experience at sea and ashore, including a number of high-level policy and administrative jobs that give her deep knowledge in budgeting and running the department.
At the same time, the official acknowledged that Mr. Biden understands the historic nature of the nomination and believes that Adm. Franchetti will be an inspiration to sailors, both men and women.
Adm. Franchetti’s nomination will join the list of hundreds of military moves that are being held up by Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama. He is blocking confirmation of military officers in protest of a Defense Department policy that pays for travel when a service member has to go out of state to get an abortion or other reproductive care.
She is slated to serve as the acting chief beginning next month when Admiral Michael Gilday, the current top Navy officer, retires as planned.
Several woman have served as military service secretaries as political appointees, but never as their top uniformed officer. A woman, Admiral Linda L. Fagan, is currently the commandant of the Coast Guard. She, however, is not a member of the Joint Staff.
The president, said the official, believes Adm. Franchetti is the right person for the job and moving Adm. Paparo to head Pacific Command also puts the right person in that post.
The official declined to comment on Mr. Austin’s recommendation. But news last month that the defence chief had recommended Adm. Paparo stunned many in the Pentagon because it was long believed that Adm. Franchetti was in line for the top Navy job.
A surface warfare officer, she has commanded at all levels, heading U.S. 6th Fleet and U.S. Naval Forces Korea. She was the second woman ever to be promoted to four-star admiral, and she did multiple deployments, including as commander of a naval destroyer and two stints as aircraft carrier strike group commander.
Adm. Paparo, who if confirmed would replace Admiral John Aquilino, is a naval aviator and a TOPGUN graduate with more than 6,000 flight hours in Navy fighter jets and 1,100 landings on aircraft carriers. A Pennsylvania native, he graduated from Villanova University and was commissioned into the Navy in 1987.
Prior to his Pacific tour, he was commander of naval forces in the Middle East, based in Bahrain, and also previously served as director of operations at U.S. Central Command in Florida.
The administration official said Mr. Biden will also nominate Vice-Admiral James Kilby to be the vice-chief of the Navy and tap Vice-Admiral Stephen Koehler to head the Pacific Fleet.