WASHINGTON — Following a week of one public relations disaster after another, there is a new leader for the 339,000 active-duty sailors of the United States Navy.
He is James McPherson. He'd only been the Army Undersecretary for a matter of days before being tapped as Acting Secretary of the Navy.
Before that, McPherson spent 26 years in Navy, retiring as a rear admiral.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said of McPherson: "He is a smart, capable, and professional leader who will restore confidence and stability in the Navy during these challenging times."
Retired Navy Captain Joe Bouchard has high hopes.
"I think, given his long experience in the Navy and his command experience, he will be able to show the leadership that (Thomas) Modly was incapable of showing."
Bouchard was referring to the former Acting Secretary of Navy Thomas Modly, who resigned Tuesday after having called the former commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt "stupid" in the midst of a coronavirus outbreak on the ship.
Bouchard said McPherson has his work cut out for him.
"He has to clean up the mess," said Bouchard. "His first job is to restore the confidence of enlisted personnel in their chain of command."
House Armed Services Committee member and Naval Academy graduate Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Virginia, 2nd District) said McPherson and other Navy leaders need to focus on what's really important.
"I think what we need to focus on now is supporting the new leadership of the Navy as well as the new commanding officer of the Theodore Roosevelt, to make sure that everyone up and down the chain of command does what they can to keep these sailors safe and healthy," she said.