Gordon R England

In 1987, Robert L. Earl told a grand jury that he had destroyed and stolen national security documents while working for Lt. Col. Oliver L. North during the Iran-Contra scandal. Now, he sits in one of the most coveted offices in the Pentagon as chief of staff to Gordon R. England, acting deputy secretary of Defense. Earl has clearance to review the kinds of classified documents he once destroyed.

The Senate on a voice vote confirmed Gordon England as deputy Defense secretary, acting three months after President Bush bypassed the Senate to install him in the post with a recess appointment.

The Senate on a voice vote confirmed Gordon England as deputy Defense secretary, acting three months after President Bush bypassed the Senate to install him in the post with a recess appointment.

In 1987, Robert L. Earl told a grand jury that he had destroyed and stolen national security documents while working for Lt. Col. Oliver L. North during the Iran-Contra scandal. Now, he sits in one of the most coveted offices in the Pentagon as chief of staff to Gordon R. England, acting deputy secretary of Defense. Earl has clearance to review the kinds of classified documents he once destroyed.

The Pentagon has determined that one of the nearly 600 prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba was incorrectly classified as an "enemy combatant" and would be returned to his home country, Navy Secretary Gordon R. England said. He declined to identify the prisoner or his nationality, but a Pentagon spokeswoman said the man had been captured in May 2002 in Afghanistan.

President Bush bypassed the Senate to install former Navy Secretary Gordon R. England as deputy secretary of Defense. England had been serving as acting deputy Defense secretary since Paul D. Wolfowitz left the No. 2 Pentagon post last May to become head of the World Bank. England's nomination for the deputy secretary position had stalled in the Senate. Under the Constitution, the president may circumvent the confirmation process by making appointments while the Senate is in recess.

The nomination of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz to head the World Bank came as a surprise to many senior Pentagon officials and set off speculation Wednesday about his successor and about the future of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Officials at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill, speaking on condition of anonymity, named a number of potential candidates for the No. 2 Pentagon job. Among them are Navy Secretary Gordon R. England, a key Rumsfeld ally, and Stephen A.

President Bush announced that he had chosen an executive for a defense firm to be secretary of the Navy and a Pentagon weapons buyer to be secretary of the Air Force. Michael W. Wynne, Bush's choice for Air Force secretary, has been the Defense Department's undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics since 2003. He replaces James G. Roche, who resigned in January. Bush selected Donald C.

Three corporate executives are under consideration to lead the Air Force, Army and Navy, administration officials said Saturday. The three have been interviewed by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, and the White House was expected to announce this week that it will send their names to the Senate for confirmation, the Washington Times reported, quoting unidentified sources. Gordon R. England, 63, who retired recently from General Dynamics Corp., would be nominated as Navy secretary; James G.

The Navy's chief investigator concluded Friday that procedures were followed properly in the approval of Sen. John F. Kerry's Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Heart medals, according to an internal Navy memo. Vice Adm. R.A. Route, the Navy inspector general, conducted the review of Kerry's Vietnam-era military service awards at the request of Judicial Watch, a public interest group.

The steadily rising cost of the Iraq war will reach about $8.4 billion a month this year, Pentagon spokesmen said Thursday, as the price of replacing lost, destroyed and aging equipment mounts. The Pentagon has been estimating last year's costs for the increasingly unpopular war at about $8 billion a month. It rose from a monthly "burn rate" of about $4.4 billion during the first year of fighting in fiscal 2003.