Trump says he will nominate current US Ambassador to Norway to be next Navy Secretary

President Donald Trump formally announced Friday that he will nominate Kenneth Braithwaite, the current US ambassador to Norway, to be his next Navy Secretary.

The formal notice from the White House comes months after Trump first announced his decision to tap Braithwaite, a retired rear admiral, to replace former Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, who was forced to resign in November by Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

Spencer was ousted for circumventing the chain of command by working on a “secret agreement with the White House” to reinstate Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher despite resistance from the Pentagon, a senior defense official told CNN at the time.

Gallagher had been convicted of bringing discredit to the armed services after posing next to a dead ISIS fighter’s body, which is against regulations. He was demoted for that offense and acquitted of a separate murder charge.

Trump reversed Gallagher’s demotion and ordered Esper to allow the Navy SEAL to keep his status in the elite service — a move critics say completely undermined the military’s chain of command structure.

Spencer appeared to be seeking a way to resolve a standoff between the Pentagon and White House. He has since accepted responsibility for the actions that led to his “firing” but insisted Esper “was completely informed as to this because his chief of staff was briefed on it.”

Braithwaite, 59, is a Michigan native who graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1984 and was the first of his class to earn a flag rank, after 21 years of military service.

A trained Naval aviator, Braithwaite flew missions tracking Soviet submarines throughout the Northern and Western Pacific Ocean regions, according to his online biography. Braithwaite later became a public affairs officer, serving in a variety of strategic communications and legislative affairs roles before leaving active service and entering the reserves in 1993.

Braithwaite deployed on several occasions while in the Navy reserves. He served in a support role for the fleet involved in the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003 and was deployed again in 2005 to assist with relief efforts following a major earthquake in Pakistan.

His final post before retiring from the reserves as a decorated rear admiral in 2011 was Vice Chief of Information for the Navy.

In addition to his military experience, Braithwaite previously worked as a senior adviser to former Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter from 1997 to 2000, while Specter was in the Republican Party.

He has also spent time in the private sector as an executive for American oil and health care companies. In March 2007, Braithwaite was named Vice President of Government Affairs for Ascension Health, the largest health care system in the US, and executive director of its Delaware Valley Healthcare Council lobbying group.

Following the 2016 election, Braithwaite became a member of Trump’s transition team and was nominated by the President as ambassador to Norway, a NATO ally, in February 2018, filling a post that had been vacant for nearly two years.

During his confirmation hearing, Braithwaite emphasized the importance of reaffirming the US commitment to NATO and pledged to strengthen trade ties with Norway. But during Braithwaite’s tenure as ambassador, that effort has been at times complicated by Trump’s repeated demands that Norway, and other NATO partners, ramp up defense spending under threat of the US shifting its military presence in Europe if they do not.

NATO members committed to spend 2% of their gross domestic product on national defense at a 2014 summit in Wales, and Trump has repeatedly bemoaned that NATO allies have not fulfilled this commitment.

While some defense officials, including former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, have tried to reassure NATO allies, both publicly and privately, amid Trump’s attacks over burden sharing, Braithwaite seemed to side with the President in September when Trump criticized Norway failing to fulfill this pledge.

“Norway is both a founding member of NATO and a key member of the alliance, and is financially capable of meeting these commitments,” Braithwaite said at the time. “I have emphasized that it is important for Norway to show leadership and reach the 2% goal well before 2024.”