Washington D.C. (February 12, 2015) — Today, the Senate confirmed Ashton B. Carter as the new Department of Defense Secretary. Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) released the following statement congratulating Carter:

“IAVA congratulates Ash Carter on a successful nomination process and commends Congress for conducting swift and bi-partisan confirmation hearings while active duty military troops are stationed in nearly 150 countries across the globe,” said IAVA CEO and Founder Paul Rieckhoff. “Given the years of honorable service at the Pentagon, Secretary Carter knows the building perhaps better than many of his predecessors and IAVA looks forward to his leadership as Secretary of Defense. We hope that he continues to engage with and seek council from veteran service organizations to the degree former Secretary of Defense Hagel embraced and we look forward to working with Secretary Carter and his staff to ensure that our military service members and their families have the support and resources necessary to accomplish the mission.