The Department of Defense is facing vacancies within its office focused on weapons procurement and modernization efforts, Politico reported Friday.

A spokesperson for DOD said Stacy Cummings, who is performing the duties of undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, and is also a 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, is set to step down from her post in the coming weeks.

“Succession plans are in place to ensure continuity of operations and support of the Secretary’s priorities," Jessica Maxwell, a spokesperson for the Pentagon, said in a statement. "We will be announcing the transition plan in the coming weeks.”

Michael Brown, director of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), withdrew his name from consideration for the role of acquisitions chief at the Pentagon citing an ongoing investigation into hiring practices at DIU.

Defense News reported that DOD has only one nominee within its acquisitions office. Deborah Rosenblum, the administration’s pick for the role of assistant secretary for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs at the Pentagon, is awaiting Senate confirmation. 

Some of the unfilled posts within the office are the deputy undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, assistant secretary for industrial base policy and assistant secretary for sustainment.

According to Politico, the Biden administration has yet to announce nominees for 27 DOD positions that require Senate confirmation. Twenty nominees are still awaiting confirmation in the upper chamber.

Amanda Gentry, formerly director of engineering at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's capabilities integration directorate, has been promoted as director of the sensors directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and elevated to the Senior Executive Service.

She will oversee the development, demonstration and transition of sensing platforms designed for the military's space, air and cyber forces, AFRL said Friday.

“My first priority is to continue to grow a world-class team, and ensure they have the tools, facilities, and other resources they need to do the work,” Gentry said.

In her more recent position, she supervised a team of 100 engineers to develop requirements and plan acquisition strategies for the service branch's next-generation capabilities.

Gentry previously served as team lead for science and technology in the Joint Strike Fighter Program Office, where she oversaw an estimated $2 billion portfolio of externally funded research programs, and as F-35 materials subject matter expert at AFRL.

The White House has named Laurie Locascio, a three-decade veteran of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and current vice president of research at the University of Maryland, as President Biden’s pick for commerce undersecretary for standards and technology.

In her current role, Locascio oversees innovation programs at UMD campuses in College Park and Baltimore, which collectively receive $1.1 billion in external research funds each year, the White House said Friday. She also teaches at the university’s bioengineering and pharmacology departments.

Locascio joined UMD in October 2017 after more than two decades of service at NIST, where her roles included acting principal deputy director and associate director for laboratory programs.

She managed internal scientific research and lab efforts at agency-run facilities in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Boulder, Colorado. The biomedical researcher received 11 patents and authored more than 100 scientific papers over the course of her career.

James “Robert” Brown, former special agent in charge of the FBI’s Louisville Field Office in Kentucky, was named as the assistant director of the Operational Technology Division at the law enforcement agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

FBI said Friday Brown will be responsible for supporting the division as it works to deliver technologies aimed at enabling and enhancing the intelligence, national security and law enforcement operations of the agency.

Brown has almost two decades of experience in serving at the FBI. He joined the agency in 2002, assuming various responsibilities in support of its field offices in Miami, Washington, Charlotte and Columbia.

Prior to taking on his most recent role, Brown worked as deputy assistant director for the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate at headquarters. He also served as section chief in the Criminal Investigative Division in 2016, managing intelligence collection efforts and investigations of Western Hemisphere-based transnational criminal organizations.