WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama has tapped U.S. Navy Rear Adm. James Syring as the next director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), according to a Pentagon announcement.
Syring currently is a program executive officer for Integrated Warfare Systems, Naval Sea Systems Command here. Assuming the U.S. Senate confirms Syring’s nomination, he would replace U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, who has held the director’s job since November 2008.
The announcement did not say when the change of MDA leadership will take place. Congress is in recess until September.
O’Reilly has been under fire following the public release in July of a report by the Defense Department’s inspector general saying he bullied employees and conducted himself in a manner that is inconsistent with Army and Pentagon standards. The secretary of the Army is reviewing the findings of that report, which was dated May 2.
