Army chief Gen. Martin Dempsey will head to the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday for his confirmation hearing to become the next Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Dempsey, who recently became the Army Chief of Staff on April 11, will succeed Navy Adm. Mike Mullen who is scheduled to retire from his position on the President’s national security team in September.
Should Dempsey be confirmed by the full Senate, which is expected, he would go down as one of the shortest-serving Army chiefs on record. Dempsey’s confirmation would also complete a new-look national security team following Leon Panetta’s new gig as Defense Secretary and Gen. David Petraeus’s rise to the top of the Central Intelligence Agency.
If confirmed, Dempsey would begin work as Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 1.