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UC Alum McHugh Tapped to be Army Secretary


1970 Graduate Nominated by Obama to Lead Largest Military Branch

Written By Keith Henry

Congressman John McHugh '70 selected by President Obama to serve as Secretary of Army

Contact
cleogrande@utica.edu

Utica, NY (06/04/2009)
- Congressman John McHugh, a 1970 graduate of Utica College, has been selected by President Barack Obama to serve as Secretary of the Army. If confirmed, McHugh will become the third Republican to serve in the Democratic administration, joining Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman. They join Bush administration holdover Defense Secretary Robert Gates who is an independent. 
   
McHugh was elected to Congress in 1992 and represented the 23rd district in northern New York that is home to Fort Drum, headquarters of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, which has seen multiple deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan in the past years.
   
President Obama praised McHugh for his tireless effort on behalf of Army members and their families. “He is committed to keeping America’s Army the best-trained, the best-equipped, the best-led land force the world has ever seen. As Secretary of the Army, he will ensure that our soldiers are trained and equipped to meet the full spectrum of challenges and threats of our time,” Obama said in a White House news release. “And John shares my belief that a sustainable national security strategy must include a bipartisan consensus at home, and he brings patriotism and a pragmatism that has won him respect on both sides of the aisle. I look forward to working with him in the months and years ahead.” 
   
McHugh served as a senior member on the House Armed Services Committee and previously served as the Ranking Member of the Committee’s Subcommittee on Military Personnel. Colleagues regard him as an astute policy analyst who is willing to dive into the minutia of often mundane policy issues and methodically solve intricate problems and address daunting challenges. He was honored with UC’s alumnus of achievement in 1987 and as Outstanding Alumnus in 2007.

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