The nomination was submitted to the Senate last week and has been referred to the Armed Services Committee for consideration, according to a notice posted on Congress.gov.

A White House announcement and the congressional notice said Caggy was tapped for a “new” ASD position, without providing additional information. A senior congressional official on Tuesday confirmed that Caggy has been nominated to be ASD for mission capabilities. Although the role was created during the Biden administration, it’s still considered “new” in bureaucratic parlance because it’s never been filled by a Senate-confirmed official.

Marcia Holmes was recently performing the duties of ASD for mission capabilities, according to a Defense Department org chart.

If confirmed, Caggy would oversee efforts to develop and support future warfighting concepts and “integrated architectures,” close capability gaps in support of defense modernization, and regularly engage with the joint force and combatant commanders, among other duties, according to a DOD description of the mission capabilities portfolio. The office is tasked with helping execute joint and interagency prototyping and experiments; identifying, developing and demonstrating “multi-domain” concepts and technology; and leveraging multiple prototyping pathways to address “operational gaps” and accelerate capabilities to warfighters.

According to DOD, a key goal for the ASD position is to help get capabilities across the so-called “Valley of Death,” a term used by members of the Pentagon’s acquisition community that refers to challenges in transitioning promising technologies from research and development into production and fielding.

“ASD(MC) serves as a transition partner through innovative and efficient experimentation strategies with the end goal of not just prototyping and fielding, but operational sustainment via scalability, producibility, and training,” according to the Defense Department.

Caggy highlighted his nomination in a LinkedIn post over the holiday weekend.

“If confirmed, I’ll bring the same mission first, bureaucracy last mindset that’s driven me my entire career. Collaborating with all to deliver the best American capabilities for the Joint Force. Working with a team of Doers grounded in humility, egos set aside in favor of doing what’s right for Warfighters and, ultimately, the country,” he wrote.

Caggy recently served as an advisor to the Strategic Capabilities Office in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. From 2013 to 2023, he held executive roles at Amazon Web Services (AWS), including general manager and director (L8) for secure connection services, and senior manager for DOD solutions. He also has military experience, having previously served as an Army infantry officer in the active duty and Reserve components for about 20 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The Defense Department’s research and engineering directorate is led by former Uber executive Emil Michael, who took the helm as undersecretary for R&E and chief technology officer in May.

Other Trump nominees for senior positions in the directorate are still going through the Senate confirmation process.

Last month, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a confirmation hearing for Michael Dodd, also known as “The DoddFather,” who was tapped to be assistant secretary of defense for critical technologies. The Senate has yet to vote on his confirmation.

In late March, Trump nominated Joseph Jewell, a hypersonics expert, to serve as assistant secretary of defense for science and technology. His confirmation hearing hasn’t been scheduled.

Last week, the president also nominated James Mazol to be deputy undersecretary of defense for R&E. Mazol had been performing the duties of that position in the months leading up to his nomination. Prior to joining the Trump administration, he was Republican policy director for the Senate Armed Services Committee and had responsibility for science and technology policy and programs, according to his DOD bio.

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Jewell’s nomination was sent to Capitol Hill Monday and will be considered by the Senate Armed Services Committee, according to a notice posted on Congress.gov.

An experienced aerospace engineer, Jewell has spent decades in both academia and government working on hypersonics research and development. He most recently served as an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Purdue University, where he was the director of the school’s Mach 6 quiet wind tunnel that’s able to test hypersonic capabilities. Jewell also spent two years researching hypersonics technology at the Air Force Research Laboratory, according to his LinkedIn bio.

The S&T job at the Pentagon that Jewell has been tapped for, was one of the new roles established in the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act as part of a reorganization within the department’s research and engineering directorate. Aprille Ericsson held that position during the Biden administration.

If confirmed, Jewell would be tasked to oversee the Defense Department’s extensive S&T enterprise — including emerging technologies, workforce, laboratories, and partnerships with industry and academia. Key initiatives for the office include FutureG, quantum science, advanced manufacturing and hypersonics research, among others.

Jewell’s experience with hypersonics would be helpful for the DOD. Development of the advanced weapons — able to fly at speeds of Mach 5 or greater while maneuvering through the atmosphere — has been a top priority for the department. However, several ongoing programs have struggled in recent years, largely due to limited test infrastructure and the technology’s complexity.

Since taking office for his second term in January, Trump has taken interest in bolstering the United States’ homeland missile defense via his Golden Dome effort, formerly known as the “Iron Dome For America.” The project looks to build a multi-layered architecture that can effectively track and defeat a range of threats, including hypersonic systems. To that end, the Pentagon will need kinetic and non-kinetic mechanisms — as well as infrastructure to test and validate them — to intercept adversary weapons.

The assistant secretary of defense for S&T is nested under the Pentagon’s undersecretary for research and engineering. Trump’s nominee for that position is Emil Michael, former chief business officer at Uber, who is awaiting confirmation by the Senate.

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