The following nominations appear on the Executive Calendar for July 21, 2025. These individuals have been nominated by President Trump to fill key roles across the Department of Commerce, State Department, development finance agencies, and U.S. foundations: A nomination on the Senate Executive Calendar is procedurally eligible for confirmation by the Senate, but still requires scheduling and action by Senate leadership.
The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) is undergoing sweeping organizational and technological changes that signal a recalibrated approach to personnel vetting and security services under the Trump administration. Now the agency is losing its chief.
Fresh off Capitol Hill, Mayur Patel spent the last five years as chief international trade counsel for the Senate Finance Committee, most recently working closely with the White House on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Export Practitioner called him for a quick chat on his first day in-office as Hogan Lovells' newest international trade partner.
On July 1, President Trump sent nominations to the Senate for several leadership roles in Defense, State and representatives to the Asian and African Development Banks.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Friday announced a slate of senior appointments spanning public affairs, legislative outreach, cybersecurity, and financial institutions policy—many with backgrounds unusual for the agency’s technocratic tradition.
President Trump and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the reconstitution of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC), appointing a new slate of members aligned with the administration’s “America First” homeland security priorities.
US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) Chairman Louis Sola is leaving the role less than six months after he was named to the post by President Trump.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Friday announced leadership appointments within the Department, giving political appointees perches as they await Senate confirmation, putting a steady hand at the legal helm of the IRS, and placing a pair of nonconventional appointments in key operational positions.
President Trump has nominated Chris Pilkerton to serve as Assistant Secretary for Investment Security at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Additionally, Jonathan Burke has been nominated as Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing at the Treasury Department.
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld announced Wednesday that Gregory Dunlap, a former Special Agent in Charge in the Office of Export Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has joined the firm’s international trade practice as a senior regulatory advisor.
Nicole Creola Kelly left the SEC in March, reportedly having accepted the DOGE buyout offer. The Office of the Whistleblower Chief had served in the position since November 2021.
Sharing the dais with several other high-profile nominees, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration-designate Landon Heid appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, April 10. His brief remarks included the suggestion that Commerce apply export controls to sanctioned firm's subsidiaries, as is done with OFAC Sanctions.
The Treasury announced legislative and public affairs appointments Friday, drawing from political appointees from the previous Trump administration and Republican congressional staff.
Seeking to prevent a repeat of the operational gridlock that hampered the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) during President Trump’s first term, the White House has appointed two veteran career officials to the agency’s Board of Directors. The move guarantees a quorum, enabling EXIM to function fully without immediate pressure on the administration to nominate additional Democratic board members. The White House’s strategic appointments allow EXIM to function without disruption while reducing immediate pressure to nominate additional Democratic board members, a requirement for maintaining the bank’s bipartisan governance structure.
In contrast to the Treasury Department's flurry of staffing announcements, the Commerce Department quietly updated its website this week, detailing the staff incoming BIS Chief Jeffrey Kessler will rely on to ensure trade security. The appointment of James Rokas as Mr. Kessler's principal deputy has been thrown into doubt, as Chief of Staff Robert Burkett has replaced Mr. Rokas as acting undersecretary.
Jeffrey Kessler the Administration's nominee for Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security had a relatively easy go of it in front of the Senate Banking Committee Thursday, as members sunk their teeth into the higher-profile nominees who shared the dias. While Mr. Kessler brings a strong legal background in tariff and trade enforcement and compliance, the technical and national security elements of export administration will call for a high degree of collaboration with what one senator referred to as "career bureaucrats [who] over the years at BIS have rubber stamped deals for decades and sent some of our most important technology to China"
Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chairman Caroline D. Pham today announced Brian Young will serve as the agency’s Director of Enforcement. Young has been serving in an acting capacity since January 22, and previously was the Director of the Whistleblower Office. Young joined the CFTC in 2024 as the Director of the Whistleblower Office following nearly 20 years at the Department of Justice.
President Biden announced last week he is nominating two new members to sit on the International Trade Commission. Jim Coughlan will come over from the Export Import Bank of the US, and Halie Craig is currently staff for the Senate Commerce Committee.
Former Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) has joined big-data firm Palantir Technologies to develop its defense business, the company announced Thursday. Denver-based Palantir has been rapidly expanding its remit with the DoD, notching notable wins in the Electronic Warfare and Sensing domains. "I believe that militaries that don't harness the power of advanced algorithmic warfare systems are basically unilaterally disarming," Gallagher told Defense One. "It's like an army with only conventional weapons going against an enemy armed with tactical nukes."
Chief of the OFAC Licensing Division, Aydin M. Akgün has joined Ferrari & Associates in Washington, DC as Director of Licensing & Compliance. During more than two decades at OFAC, Mr. Akgün worked on sanctions programs involving Iran, Belarus, Global Magnitsky, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
