The Pentagon’s new acting deputy secretary is a long-serving defence analyst with pop-culture credentials having served as the inspiration for the lead female in the film Top Gun. But there’s another, far more notable accomplishment: Christine Fox is the most senior-ranking woman in Pentagon History.
The White House has made a priority of selecting more women for top national security posts after a 2010 study by Women in International Security found that women hold just 20% to 30% of key foreign policy and national security jobs in the US — and Christine Fox’s appointment as second-in-command in the Pentagon, a move which was labelled as “unprecedented”, makes her the most powerful woman in the US military.
Fox, appointed by President Obama earlier this week to temporarily replace outgoing deputy defence secretary Ash Carter, has previously run the Pentagon’s internal cost and program assessment office, the centre for Naval Analysis and had a significant hand in the department’s Strategic Choices and Management review which outlined how the Pentagon could meet upcoming budget challenges.
Fox is a mathematician and specialist in Maritime Air Superiority who has been touted as a budget expert. Defence secretary Chuck Hagel, referred to her previous experience working with the departments budget as a key reason for her selection and praised her as a “brilliant defence thinker and proven manager”.
“She will be able to help me shape our priorities from Day One because she knows the intricacies of the department’s budget, programs and global operations better than anyone,” Hagel said in the appointment announcement.
Fox has said that she did not want to be considered as a candidate to take over the position permanently and will hold the job until a successor is appointed by the President, which is not expected until next year.
Fox will also join other notable women in high-ranking US National security positions, including Lisa Monaco, chief counterterrorism adviser to the President, Julia Pierson, director of the Secret Service and Susan Rice, National security adviser.