THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                         (Cartagena, Colombia)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                    August 30, 2000

            PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES ROBERT B. PIRIE, JR. AS
                      UNDER SECRETARY OF THE NAVY

     The President today announced his intent to nominate Robert B.

Pirie, Jr. as Under Secretary of the Navy at the Department of Defense (DOD).

Mr. Robert B. Pirie, Jr., of Bethesda, Maryland, is currently the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Installations and Environment and has served in this position since March of 1994. He was nominated to be Assistant Secretary for Manpower, Reserve Affairs and Logistics at the Department of Defense by President Carter in December 1978 and served in that position until January 1981. In 1977, Mr. Pirie became Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manpower, Reserve Affairs and Logistics at the Department of Defense. Mr. Pirie came to DOD with over thirty years of experience in defense-related work in the armed forces, civil service and industry. He served twenty years as a naval officer, culminating with three years in command of a nuclear attack submarine. Upon retirement from the Navy in 1975, Mr. Pirie joined the newly formed Congressional Budget Office as Deputy Assistant Director for National Security.

Mr. Pirie graduated from the Naval Academy in 1955. He was a Rhodes Scholar and attended Oxford University from 1956 to 1959.

The Under Secretary of the Navy is the number two civilian official in the Department of the Navy. The Under Secretary coordinates the day-to-day activities of the Navy, in effect acting as the chief operation officer of the service. He also represents and acts for the Secretary of the Navy in his or her absence.

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