WASHINGTON – The White House has resubmitted the nomination for NASA’s deputy administrator, but is searching for a new candidate for the agency’s chief financial officer.
The White House announced on January 13 that it had forwarded the nomination of Matt Anderson for Deputy Administrator to the Senate, one of four NASA positions that require Senate confirmation. His nomination was one of several dozen positions presented to the federal government that day.
The Trump administration originally nominated Anderson, a former US Air Force officer and senior Space Force Association official, in May. However, under Senate rules, the chamber returned the nomination at the end of its first session because it had not voted on it.
The Senate took no action on the nomination after the original submission, which came just weeks before the White House withdrew the original nomination of Jared Isaacman to become NASA Administrator. The White House re-nominated Isaacman in November and the Senate confirmed him on December 17.
“I am honored to receive President Trump’s nomination to serve as Deputy Administrator of NASA, and I look forward to working with the Senate in the next phase of this process,” Anderson said in a statement released by the Space Force Association.
The group supported Anderson’s renomination. “His nomination signals a strong commitment to integrating advanced space operations and the agility of commercial industry at the heart of the agency,” Space Force Association president and founder Bill Woolf said in a statement.
“Matt is uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between national security space and civilian exploration, ensuring NASA has the operational expertise needed for ambitious Artemis and Martian missions,” Woolf said.
Another NASA nomination returned by the Senate at the end of the first session was Greg Autry for Chief Financial Officer. Autry is the associate provost for space commercialization and strategy at the University of Central Florida.
Autry said he is not seeking renomination. “I have decided not to seek reconfirmation and have requested that I not be re-nominated,” Autry said in a social media post on Jan. 8. He did not elaborate on his decision.
Autry was nominated to be NASA’s chief financial officer in March and that nomination was initially designated as “privileged”, allowing a streamlined confirmation process without a hearing. However, the nomination was referred to the Senate Commerce Committee in early June by the committee’s ranking member, Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. The committee did not hold a confirmation hearing.
This was the second time Autry was nominated for this position. He was first nominated in 2020 during the first Trump administration and received a confirmation hearing, but the Senate did not vote on the nomination.
“It will be a pleasure to work with you at NASA, but I know your talents will continue to advance America’s leadership in space,” Isaacman said in a social media post responding to Autry’s announcement.
Apart from the vacant positions of Deputy Administrator and Chief Financial Officer, NASA does not currently have a Senate-confirmed Inspector General. The position is vacant after Inspector General Paul Martin leaves the agency at the end of 2023. The Trump administration has not yet named a replacement.
