Article snippet: The Pentagon has seen an exodus of top officials this month, prompting concerns from lawmakers and experts alike as the Defense Department struggles to fill roles ahead of a contentious election year that will leave little room for staffing critical jobs. Within seven days the department experienced the departure of five civilian policymakers, continuing a bleeding of staff the Trump administration has been having trouble keeping up with. Though the Senate on Thursday night confirmed three Department of Defense (DOD) nominees - Lisa Hershman to be chief management officer, Dana Deasy to be chief information officer and Robert Sander to be Navy general counsel – the administration has to overcome a limited bench of talent and a slowed down confirmation process in the Senate in refilling roles that have been recently vacated, staffed on an acting basis or empty for months. The sheer number of open positions and roles filled on an acting basis, is “definitely concerning,” said Alice Hunt Friend a former defense official now an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. While the Pentagon bureaucracy is large enough to keep the lights on, officials holding roles in an acting capacity “often do not have the resources to make really critical decisions when changes need to be made or when the bureaucracy needs to respond to the outside world,” she told The Hill. Rep. MORE (R-Ill.) told The Hill that he was “baffled” by length of time numerous official... Link to the full article to read more