WASHINGTON — President Trump has nominated Joseph Weirsky, the acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, to lead the center permanently, one of 15 people whose nominations the White House sent to the Senate on Tuesday as Republicans work to confirm administration picks before Democrats take the majority in January.
The White House list names Weirsky, “of Virginia, to be Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, vice Joseph Kent, resigned.” The same batch includes five ambassadors, a new assistant secretary of defense, the chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the head of the Federal Transit Administration and a federal appeals court judge.
Weirsky has run the center on an acting basis since March, when Kent resigned. A Marine for 26 years, he retired in 2020 as a master gunnery sergeant after serving with Marine Barracks 8th & I, reconnaissance units and, for 15 years, within U.S. Army Special Operations Command, according to his official ODNI biography. He then spent five years in private industry, most recently as a chief operating officer, before joining the center, the biography says. He was the center’s deputy director before Kent left, IBTimes reported.
Kent announced his resignation on March 17 in a post on X, saying he could not “in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran.” The administration has defended the Iran operations as lawful; Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said this week that every operation cited in a House impeachment resolution against him was “a lawful operation ordered by the Commander-in-Chief,” according to remarks the White House circulated.
The rest of the list
Peter A. Feldman was nominated to be chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, succeeding Alexander Hoehn-Saric, and separately for a new seven-year term on the commission beginning Oct. 27, 2026, the White House said.
The five ambassador nominees are Mikhail Bogachek of Florida for Kosovo; John Burns of South Carolina for the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Pedro Cabrera of Florida for Guatemala; Matthew Millhollin of Tennessee for Oman; and William Stephens of Virginia, a career member of the Senior Executive Service, for Papua New Guinea, with concurrent accreditation to the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
Daniel Zimmerman of North Carolina was nominated as an assistant secretary of defense in what the list describes as a “new position.” Mark Aesch of Florida was nominated as federal transit administrator, succeeding Marcus Molinaro. At Treasury, Rebekah Jurata was nominated as an assistant secretary, succeeding Luke Pettit, and Hugo Dante Jr. as director of the Office of Financial Research for a six-year term.
The list also includes Andreas Borgeas of California for the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission; Julia Diaz-Rex for U.S. attorney in Puerto Rico, succeeding W. Stephen Muldrow; and Bernard Michael Desrosiers for a 15-year term on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
An appeals court swap and a Gulf post
The White House also withdrew U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky’s nomination to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and nominated Arkansas Supreme Court Justice J. Cody Hiland for the seat being vacated by Judge Bobby E. Shepherd. The announcement gave no reason for the change, KATV reported, noting earlier reports that Arkansas Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton had sought to block Rudofsky. Reuters reported that the White House and Senate Republicans are racing to confirm as many judges as possible before Democrats, who won at least 54 seats in the Nov. 3 midterms, take control of the chamber.
Separately, the White House on Monday announced the nomination of former Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, a post that is vacant, the Kansas Reflector reported. Colyer, 66, ran for governor this year before deciding in June not to file, and later endorsed Senate President Ty Masterson, who won the Republican nomination in August, the outlet reported.
Each nomination requires Senate confirmation. Under Senate rules, nominations still pending when the Senate adjourns at the end of a session are returned to the president unless senators agree otherwise.
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