Feb 8, 2022 - Politics & Policy

Biden to appoint Jack McCain to Naval Academy board

 Jack McCain boards a plane after the memorial service for the late US Senator John McCain at the North Phoenix Baptist Church, August 30, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Jack McCain, son of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain. Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

President Biden announced his intention Monday to appoint John "Jack" McCain, son of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), to serve on the Board of Visitors to the U.S. Naval Academy.

What he's saying: "I am incredibly honored and, suffice to say, deeply humbled, to have been asked to serve on the Naval Academy Board of Visitors," tweeted McCain, a reserve naval aviator for Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 85 and graduate of the Naval Academy.

  • "I am grateful beyond measure for the opportunity, and look forward to working to continue the proud tradition of developing Midshipmen," McCain added.

The big picture: McCain deployed five times in the Pacific, Persian Gulf and Afghanistan, where he flew alongside Afghan pilots throughout Kandahar and Helmand, per a White House statement.

  • He is one of six people Biden nominated as appointees to the board, which inquires "into the state of morale and discipline, the curriculum, instruction, physical equipment, fiscal affairs, academic methods, and other matters relating to the academy," per a Naval Academy statement.
  • The others are retired Gen. John Allen, Paul Angelo, retired Navy officer Robert Clark, retired Adm. Michelle Janine Howard and retired Lt. Col. Amy McGrath. 
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