Obama nominates new DOD IG

President Barack Obama has nominated acting Defense Department Inspector General Glenn Fine to be the permanent IG.

Fine was appointed to the post of principal deputy IG on June 1, 2015, and has been serving concurrently as acting IG since Jan. 10, when predecessor Jon Rymer left after only two years on the job.

Fine has extensive experience as an agency watchdog, having served as the Justice Department's IG from 2000 to 2011. During his tenure, he oversaw high-profile investigations of the George W. Bush administration's hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys and the FBI's use of national security letters.

Previously, Fine served as special investigative counsel to the Justice IG and director of the Special Investigations and Review Section from 1995 to 2000.

Fine left government in 2011 and was a partner at Washington-based Dechert law firm until 2014.

He earned a B.A. in economics from Harvard University, where he was co-captain of the basketball team. He graduated in 1979 and was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs but chose to attend Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship. He then attended Harvard Law School. After graduating in 1985, Fine served as an assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and then as an attorney at Bredhoff and Kaiser.

The Senate Armed Services Committee, which must confirm Fine's appointment, has yet to comment on his nomination.