Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer swore in James Geurts Tuesday morning to be the new Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition.
“I am excited to welcome James ‘Hondo’ Geurts to my team as Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition,” Spencer posted to his Facebook page. “We are in challenging times and we need rapid and affordable acquisition. As a career leader in the acquisition field, Hondo has proven he is the right person to usher in the reform and innovation needed in the Department of the Navy.”
Geurts joins Spencer in the Pentagon’s Navy offices after working a similar job for Special Operations Command, where he was an acquisition.
“Honored to be sworn in by the Secretary of the Navy today!” Geurts said in a statement. “I look forward to working with a great team of civilian, military, industrial, academic, and entrepreneurial professionals as we equip and support the finest Navy and Marine Corps in the world.”
Geurts was commissioned an Air Force officer after graduating from Lehigh University’s ROTC program in 1987 and retired as a colonel in 2009. While in the Air Force, he managed such programs as intercontinental ballistic missiles, surveillance platforms, tactical fighter aircraft, advanced avionics systems, stealth cruise missiles, training systems, and manned and unmanned special operations aircraft, according to his Air Force biography.
“I have a long-held belief that teams which are empowered, have a close connection to their operational customer, and are all focused on the mission can accomplish amazing things,” Geurts said through a statement he released. “I aim to set those conditions and similarly enable those acquisition teams so that they can rapidly and effectively equip and support the sailors and Marines operating around the globe in defense of our Nation.”
