Chris Casteel
The Oklahoman
Former Oklahoma congressman Brad Carson was nominated by President Barack Obama on Thursday for the second-highest civilian job in the U.S. Army.
Carson, 46, who is currently the Army’s top lawyer, was nominated for the position of undersecretary. The current undersecretary, Joseph W. Westphal, was nominated earlier this month to be the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Carson’s nomination would have to be cleared by the Senate Armed Services Committee — where Sen. Jim Inhofe, of Tulsa, is the top Republican — and the full Senate.
Carson, a Democrat, served four years in the U.S. House, representing an eastern Oklahoma district, before running for the U.S. Senate in 2004. Current Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, defeated Carson in that race.
After leaving politics, Carson taught business law, headed the National Energy Policy Institute at the University of Tulsa and served as CEO of Cherokee Nation Businesses.
From 2008-09, on active duty in the U.S. Navy, Carson was deployed to Iraq and embedded with the United States Army’s 84th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Battalion. He has been the General Counsel of the Army since early 2012.
