Senate confirms Mabus, Work for leadership jobs - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Senate confirms Mabus, Work for leadership jobs

Navy Secretary-designate Ray Mabus and Navy Undersecretary-designate Robert Work were confirmed Monday evening by the Senate, the last step before both are sworn in as the Navy Department’s top two civilian leaders.

Mabus — a former governor of Mississippi and U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia — and Work — a retired Marine colonel and defense analyst — were among 15 people confirmed unanimously as a group for posts throughout the federal government.

Navy officials hadn’t yet scheduled when Mabus and Work would be sworn in and officially begin work, but that could take place by the end of the week.

Past secretaries have begun their tenure with a small, private swearing-in to officially start their terms and then had a larger, public swearing-in ceremony later. It wasn’t clear yet whether that would be the case with Mabus and Work.