Defense News:
Among other changes: making the order of service secretaries based on seniority, and moving the acquisition offices farther down the line. (The 2010 order had the acquisition, technology and logistics undersecretary as No. 5 in the order; that office was split into Acquisition & Sustainment and Research & Engineering in 2017.) The 2010 order also did not account for the chief management officer, which was stood up in 2018.
Arnold Punaro, a former Senate Armed Services Committee staff director and retired Marine Corps general, said the move puts the succession order “pretty much to the way it used to be.” While the succession order could be changed by President-elect Joe Biden at any time, getting this order laid out is particularly important given it’s immediately ahead of the presidential transition, he added.
