Media contact: Jeff Schrade
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(Washington, DC) Members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs will meet Tuesday morning to review the nomination of Robert "Bob" Howard. He has been nominated by President George W. Bush to be the Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

He has been the acting Assistant Secretary since Robert McFarland resigned earlier this year.

Members of the Committee are expected to vote on Howard's nomination later that day, probably off the Senate floor. If endorsed by the committee, his nomination should receive full consideration by the Senate before it adjourns Friday.

• The nomination hearing will be held Tuesday, September 26, in room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, starting at 10 a.m. Eastern.
• It will be webcast live, and archived for viewing later, at http://veterans.senate.gov. The hearing may also be audiocast ? during the hearing only ? on C-SPAN's hearings website, located at http://www.capitolhearings.org.

Maj. Gen. Howard retired from the Army in 1996 and spent the next nine years in the private sector with the Cubic Corporation, where he served as a Vice President and General Manager of the Analysis and Learning Technologies Division.

A native of Everett, Massachusetts, Howard began his 33 year career in the Army in 1963. While on active duty, he served in a variety of command and staff assignments in the continental United States, Europe and Asia, with two tours of duty in Vietnam. His assignments included command of both an engineer battalion and brigade in the 82nd Airborne Division and XVIII Airborne Corps, as well as staff positions focusing on systems analysis, modeling and simulation, strategic planning and financial management. In his last active duty assignment, he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Army for Budget.

His academic experience includes service as an assistant professor of mathematics at the US Military Academy and as a professorial lecturer for the American University.

He has a graduate degree in civil engineering from Texas A&M University and an undergraduate degree from Northeastern University in Boston. He also holds a Master's degree in Military Art and Science from the Army Command and General Staff College, and is a 1984 graduate of the National War College.

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