WASHINGTON — After a year-and-a-half without a confirmed Pentagon controller, today the Senate voted 50 to 47, as part of a larger en bloc package, for Jules “Jay” Hurst to officially take on the role, along with greenlighting key Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) nominees.
Hurst, who performed the duties of comptroller from August 2025 until May when the White House appointed him to take over the role full time, will now slide back into the role overseeing defense budgets and spend plans once sworn in. During his mid-July confirmation hearing, he vowed to focus on three main priorities if confirmed — passing a clean audit by 2028, constructing budgets that align with the ongoing evolutions in warfare while also expanding the industrial base, and improving financial management systems and processes.
Once he is sworn in and back in the comptroller seat, Hurst will be overseeing Iran spending and the associated supplemental funding expected to be in the tens of billions of dollars, along with the FY27 spending request that has yet to be approved. He will also be responsible for crafting the FY28 budget request. At the same time, Hurst’s office is also under pressure to get $152 billion in 2025 reconciliation spending under contract by the end of September or risk an 8.3 percent cut to the remaining balance.
Meanwhile, today’s vote comes as some lawmakers continue to pose questions about Pentagon officials’ transparency on key topics. For Hurst, that meant facing questions about his time performing the duties of comptroller.
Sen. Jack Reed, the committee’s top Democrat, pressed Hurst during his confirmation hearing about his lack of responsiveness about the Iran war. Specifically, Reed told Hurst there were “problems getting information from you and from the Department of Defense” about the true cost of military operations against Iran.
“My staff followed up numerous times,” Reed said. “We received a response on May 11 from the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs that referred me to your testimony. But during those hearings, you didn’t provide details and said you’d get back to the committees, and then your nomination intervened” on May 20.
“Our staffs have been asking consistently for this information, and I don’t think we’re alone in being frustrated,” Reed added.
In response, Hurst referenced his time on Capital Hill, where he served as a legislative director and defense advisor to Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., and said he believes in Congress’s oversight role.
“If confirmed,” he added, “I will work with this committee to provide the appropriate data and answer your RFIs [requests for information].”
Days later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared before Senate appropriators and said that he expects “certain aspects” of the Iran war to cost $37.5 billion through the end of fiscal 2026. He did not clarify just what is excluded from that total, but said it would cover military pay, operation and maintenance, and other “anticipated costs” through Sept. 30.
Space Force Gets An Acquisition Chief
In the same voting bloc with 74 nominees, lawmakers approved Erich Hernandez-Baquero as the next Air Force assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration, a role that’s charged with overseeing all Space Force acquisition programs.
Hernandez-Bacquero, who goes by “HB,” will take over from Thomas Ainsworth, who is currently acting as the Pentagon’s space acquisition czar. He will be only the second person permanently appointed to the role, which was created by Congress in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, following in the footsteps of Frank Calvelli.
Hernandez-Bacquero retired from the Air Force as a colonel and currently is the vice president for space intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance at Raytheon. That position led to some pointed questions during his nomination process in letters from senators, including Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Jack Reed, D-R.I., about a potential conflict of interest. (Hernandez-Bacquero did not directly address the issue during his confirmation hearing, and lawmakers did not respond to Breaking Defense’s questions about any further dialog with the nominee about it.)
Once in place, Hernandez-Baquero will manage a rapidly growing Space Force investment budget. The service’s fiscal 2027 budget includes some $59 billion in research and procurement, up from $18.9 billion in FY26.
He also will be faced with implementing the major workforce realignment under the service’s new portfolio acquisition executive (PAE) structure mandated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The Space Force on June 10 announced that it had finalized its acquisition reorganization, adding three more PAEs to the six previously announced for a total of nine. The three newest PAEs cover Advanced Capabilities, Electromagnetic Warfare and Cyber, and Space Combat Power.
The Senate’s mass confirmation vote also included a thumbs up for the Trump administration’s nominee to head the NRO, Roger Mason.
Mason, who currently serves as an executive at defense contractor V2X, has a background in intelligence — having serviced as the first assistant director of national intelligence for systems and resource analyses within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) from 2009 to 2014.
He will replace the long-serving Chris Scolese at the helm of the spy satellite agency.
Scolese retired on July 10, after nearly seven years in the position. During his tenure, he sought to improve and strengthen ties between NRO and the Space Force, which have been frayed by disputes over roles and missions (primarily regarding acquisition authorities) practically since the service’s inception.
Mason, for his part, touted the NRO’s ongoing strong partnership with the Space Force as “good governance” during his July 14 SASC confirmation hearing.
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