Mr. Pete Geren became the 20th Secretary of the Army here today, following his nomination by President George W. Bush and confirmation by the United States Senate.

As Secretary of the Army, Mr. Geren has statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, installations, environmental issues, weapons systems and equipment acquisition, communications, and financial management.
Geren is responsible for the Department of the Army's annual budget and supplemental of $170 billion. He leads a work force of over one million active duty, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve Soldiers, 230,000 Department of the Army civilian employees and 280,000 contracted service personnel. He has stewardship over 15 million acres of land.

Mr. Geren had been serving as the 28th Under Secretary of the Army, a post he held since Feb. 21, 2006. Mr. Geren was named as the Acting Secretary of the Army March 9, 2007.

Mr. Geren joined the Department of Defense in September 2001, serving as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense with responsibilities in the areas of inter-agency initiatives, legislative affairs and special projects. He served as Acting Secretary of the Air Force from July to November 2005.

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For more information, call U.S. Army Public Affairs at (703) 697-2564.