DOD financial management deputy named

The Defense Department has named David Norquist the deputy undersecretary of Defense for financial management.

Norquist replaces Tina Jonas, who left DOD to become the chief financial officer and assistant director of the FBI's finance division in August 2002.

Norquist, 36, was sworn in Dec. 30, 2002, and he will be the principal adviser to Dov Zakheim, DOD comptroller and chief financial officer, and other senior defense officials for accounting, financial reform and fiscal matters.

Most recently, Norquist was on the majority staff of the House Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee. He also has worked for the Department of the Army as a budget analyst and at other positions on Capitol Hill.

"For my first three years on the Hill, I worked on a number of IT matters," Norquist said. "I was involved in the efforts to prepare for Y2K, NMCI and the Clinger-Cohen Act [of 1996]."

Norquist said that his first two major tasks will be to oversee DOD's implementation of its financial management modernization program and to assist Zakheim in Afghan reconstruction.

"Dr. Zakheim is the coordinator for Afghan reconstruction and on that project, I am his deputy," Norquist said. "Both [the Afghan reconstruction and financial management modernization] are very hard jobs, but both are very important, as well."