![](https://cdn.govexec.com/media/img/cd/2018/01/05/010518shitehouse/860x394.jpg?1626834260)
Appointee Watch: More Musical Chairs on the Horizon?
Trump announces more picks for Defense, Education and State departments.
As the Trump administration approaches the one-year mark, rumors again have begun swirling about Cabinet-level officials trading positions.
Politico reported Friday that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has told colleagues that he is interested in becoming attorney general, should Attorney General Jeff Sessions resign or be forced out.
On Thursday, questions about Sessions’ future in charge of the Justice Department resurfaced after Reps. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, both leaders of the House Freedom Caucus, called on him to resign over leaks from the FBI over the special counsel investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 election.
According to the Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post, which have been tracking more than 600 positions that require Senate confirmation, as of Friday, 241 Trump appointees had been confirmed to their positions. Another 90 people had been announced or formally nominated, while 295 jobs remained vacant.
Over the last month, President Trump has named the following people to serve at federal agencies:
Defense: William Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition. Roper is the founding director of the Strategic Capabilities Office in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He was acting chief architect at the Missile Defense Agency, and he previously worked at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, where he analyzed national security issues.
Gregory Slavonic, assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs. Slavonic most recently was chief of staff to Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla. He is a retired sailor, who over the course of 34 years, rose from the rank of seaman recruit to rear admiral.
Kevin Fahey, assistant secretary for acquisition. Fahey most recently was vice president of combat vehicles and armaments at Cypress International Inc. He previously worked in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army on acquisition, logistics and technology.
Michael Griffin, undersecretary for research and engineering. Griffin most recently was chairman and CEO of the Schafer Corp. He previously was administrator of NASA.
Education: Frank Brogan, assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education. Brogan most recently was chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. He is a former public school teacher, and was elected Florida’s commissioner of education in 1994. He served as lieutenant governor of Florida from 1998 until 2003.
James Woodworth, commissioner of education statistics. Woodworth is a quantitative research analyst at the Center for Research on Educational Outcomes at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute. Prior to joining Stanford, Woodworth was a distinguished doctoral fellow at the University of Arkansas’s Department of Education Reform, and he spent 11 years as a public school teacher.
Energy: Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, undersecretary for nuclear security. Gordon-Hagerty is president of Tier Tech International Inc., a national security consulting firm. She previously served on the National Security Council for five years as the director for combating terrorism. She has held several posts at the Energy Department under previous administrations.
Anne White, assistant secretary for environmental management. White is the founder of Bastet Technical Services LLC, a consulting firm focused on a variety of nuclear energy issues.
Environmental Protection Agency: Holly Greaves, chief financial officer. Greaves is a senior adviser for budget and audit for EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. She previously was a senior manager at public accounting firm KPMG LLP, where she provided auditing services for federal agencies. She has been a lecturer on government accounting at George Washington University.
Millenium Challenge Corporation: Sean Cairncross, CEO. Cairncross is a deputy assistant to the president and senior adviser to Chief of Staff John Kelly. He served as the chief operating officer for the Republican National Committee for the 2016 election cycle, and previously worked as an attorney at a D.C. law firm.
Peace Corps: Josephine Olsen, director. Olsen is a senior lecturer at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, where she teaches on issues of international health and social services. She previously served as deputy and acting director of the Peace Corps during the George W. Bush administration, and she is a former Peace Corps volunteer.
State: Andrea Thompson, undersecretary for arms control and international security. Thompson is special adviser in the State Department’s Office of Policy Planning. She previously was deputy assistant to the president and the vice president’s national security adviser. She is a former military officer, who deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia.
Kevin Moley, assistant secretary for international organizational affairs. Moley was an ambassador to the Office of the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva during the George W. Bush administration. He was deputy secretary of the Health and Human Services Department in the early 1990s and has worked in the health care industry when not in government.
Marie Royce, assistant secretary, educational and cultural affairs. Royce is longtime businesswoman and a former professor. She is a member of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy, and she is the wife of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif.
Michelle Giuda, assistant secretary for public affairs. Giuda is the senior vice president of global corporate communications at Weber Shandwick, a global public relations firm.
Andrew Gellert, ambassador to Chile. Gellert is president of Gellert Global Group, a conglomerate that includes the largest privately owned food importer in the U.S.
Leandro Rizzuto, ambassador to Barbados and to St. Kitts and Nevis and to Saint Lucia. Rizzuto is a businessman in the beauty industry, known best for his leadership of Conair.