Congratulations to Michele Flournoy, whom the Senate just confirmed as the new undersecretary of defense for policy; Jeh Charles Johnson, whom the Senate just confirmed as Pentagon general counsel; and Robert Hale, whom the Senate just confirmed as Pentagon comptroller. All of these newly-minted senior Pentagon officials testified together in a joint confirmation hearing on Jan. 15. Funny thing: they testified alongside controversial deputy secretary-designate Bill Lynn, until recently Raytheon’s top lobbyist; and the Senate  Armed Services Committee approved them all on Feb. 5. But the Senate took no action on Lynn’s nomination today.

I put in calls and emails to Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the committee, who put a hold on Lynn’s nomination on Jan. 22 for ethics reasons only to lift it the next day after the Obama White House exempted Lynn from its ethics requirements against lobbyists joining the agencies they lobby. As far as I’m aware there isn’t an additional hold on his nomination. According to Regan Lachapelle, a spokeswoman for Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate Majority Leader, Lynn should get his vote on the Senate floor tomorrow, but I’m still unclear as to why he didn’t join his confreres.

 Crossposted to The Streak.