Washington: US President Joe Biden has selected Admiral Lisa Franchetti for the job of the Navy’s top officer, confirming that she will be the first woman in US Navy history to hold the position as well as the first woman to serve as the Joint Chiefs of Staff, CNN reported. Franchetti, who currently serves as the deputy chief of naval operations, was commissioned in 1985 and, according to his official biography, has served as commander of US Naval Forces Korea, deputy chief of naval operations for warfare development, and director of the Joint Staff’s Strategy, Plans and Policy. She has also commanded two Carrier Strike Groups and became the Vice CNO in September 2022.
“As our next Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti will bring 38 years of dedicated service to our nation as a commissioned officer, including her current role as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations,” Biden said in an announcement on Friday.
“Throughout his career, Admiral Franchetti has demonstrated wide-ranging expertise in both the operational and policy areas. She is the second woman to achieve the rank of four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and when confirmed, she will again make history as the first woman to serve as Chief of Naval Operations and Joint Chiefs of Staff,” CNN quoted Biden as saying.
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Biden also announced on Friday that he is nominating Vice Admiral James Kilby, Deputy Commander of the US Fleet Forces Command, as the next Vice CNO, and Admiral Samuel Paparoa, Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, to lead US forces in the Pacific as Commander of the Indo-Pacific Command.
Biden also nominated Vice Admiral Stephen “Webb” Koehler to replace Paparoa as Commander of the US Pacific Fleet.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin lauded the nomination, saying that each admiral will ensure that our US Navy and combined forces in the Indo-Pacific remain the best military force ever built, and will be at the center of our work to project power around the world, protect freedom of the seas and uphold the rules-based international order, reports CNN.
Notably, Franchetti is another first for the Biden administration’s Defense Department, which now has the first black defense secretary, Christine Wermuth, the first female Army secretary, and will mark the first time since Brown’s confirmation that the Pentagon’s two most senior leaders are black men, CNN reported.