Vice Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, has been nominated to be the next Pacific Fleet commander. Harris will be promoted to admiral and receive his fourth star.
The current Pacific Fleet commander, Adm. Cecil Haney, will lead the U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., the Pentagon announced last week. Haney assumed command of the Pearl Harbor-based Pacific Fleet in 2012.
In other military news:
» Army Gen. Vincent Brooks will take command Tuesday of U.S. Army Pacific, becoming the first four-star general at Fort Shafter since 1974. Brooks will succeed Lt. Gen. Francis Wiercinski, who led the command for more than two years.
Wiercinski will retire after 34 years of service, with the last eight years stationed in the Pacific. Army Pacific is responsible for 80,000 soldiers in the region.
Brooks is coming from command of 3rd Army, based at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.
The decision to elevate the Fort Shafter job to four stars represents the Army’s commitment to the U.S. pivot toward Asia and the Pacific, the service said.
Brooks is a 1980 graduate of West Point, where he was first captain of cadets.
» Rear Adm. James F. Caldwell Jr., commander of the Pacific Fleet Submarine Force, will become Navy inspector general with rank of vice admiral, the Navy announced. Caldwell assumed command of the Pacific Fleet’s 37 nuclear submarines at Pearl Harbor; Bangor, Wash.; and San Diego in December 2010.
» Rear Adm. Philip G. Howe, who was selected as the new commander of the Special Operations Command at Camp Smith in January, was nominated for his second star, the Pentagon announced.
