Senate panel clears Dempsey nomination

The nominees approved by the committee included Adm. Cecil
Haney to be reappointed as U.S. Strategic Command chief and Lt. Gen. Curtis
Scaparrotti to be commander of United Nations Command and Combined Forces
Command.

{mosads}The panel also approved the civilian nominations of Stephen
Preston as Pentagon general counsel and Jon Rymer as Defense Department
inspector general.

The nominations now head to the full Senate for approval.

Dempsey’s confirmation faced turbulence earlier this month after
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had briefly threatened a hold on the nomination over
a dispute about U.S. Syria policy.

McCain had criticized Dempsey at his confirmation hearing
after the four-star general would not disclose his personal opinion about
possible U.S. intervention in Syria.

At the end of the hearing, Senate Armed Services Chairman
Carl Levin (D-Mich.) asked Dempsey to provide an unclassified assessment of
U.S. military options in Syria, in an attempt to satisfy McCain’s request.

McCain also criticized Dempsey’s response when it was sent
the following week, but said he was not going to place a hold on the
confirmation.

Dempsey is expected to be easily confirmed by the full
Senate, which could come this week before the August recess.