By voice vote on Thursday, the Senate confirmed Frank Rose as principal deputy administration of the National Nuclear Security Administration, providing a backstop for Administrator Jill Hruby, who was confirmed last week.
It took a little more than three months to get Rose confirmed. Rose was one of the four witnesses in a May 27 confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Hruby testified at the same hearing. The Joe Biden administration nominated Rose for the number-two post in the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on April 27.
Rose was most recently a senior fellow for security strategy at the Brookings Institution think tank. He has also worked at the Aerospace Corp. and, during the Barack Obama administration, was assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification, and compliance from 2014 to 2017. Rose has also worked in the Department of Defense and on Capitol Hill.
During the latter half of the Donald Trump administration, Rose stayed busy with public appearances during virtual forums hosted by non-government groups in Washington.
Rose will take over for Acting Principal Deputy Administrator David Huizenga, a career civil-servant and the number-three person on the NNSA’s organization chart. The last full-time principal deputy, Donald Trump appointee William Bookless, resigned on inauguration day.
“I am so grateful to the Senate for confirming Frank Rose to serve as Principal Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm wrote in a statement Friday. “Frank brings unparalleled expertise in nuclear security and national defense, and he will be a tremendous asset as NNSA works to keep our nation and our world safe.”
With Rose’s confirmation, three of the four Senate-confirmed positions in the NNSA’s politically appointed leadership are, at least temporarily, occupied by Senate-confirmed officials. Charles Verdon, the deputy administrator for defense programs, is a holdover from the Trump administration but remained at his post at deadline Friday for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor.
Of the four Senate-confirmed NNSA leadership jobs, only the deputy administrator for defense nuclear non-proliferation remained unstaffed by a political appointee, at deadline.
