Admiral Jonathan Greenert has been tapped to become the new chief of the US navy, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.

"I have recommended to the president that he nominate Admiral Jonathan Greenert to become the next chief of naval operations," Gates said at a news conference. Greenert would replace Admiral Gary Roughead.

"Admiral Greenert is the current vice CNO of the Navy, where his portfolio includes significant personnel, programs, and budget responsibilities."

Greenert must still be confirmed by the US Senate, and will not begin his new assignment until September, when Roughead retires after four years as the Navy's top commander.

Greenert, 58, a graduate of the US Naval Academy, has spent most of his career as a submarine commander, serving on both attack vessels and ballistic missile submarines before becoming head of US Fleet Forces command.

As chief of naval operations, Greenert would become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a group of six four-star generals who advise the secretary of defense and the president.

earlier related report

Obama and Petraeus discuss Afghan pullout
Washington (AFP) June 16, 2011 –

US President Barack Obama has met with Afghanistan war commander General David Petraeus to discuss a troop withdrawal set to begin next month, the White House said Thursday.

Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said the two met in Washington on Wednesday to "discuss Afghanistan (and) to review the broad array of issues surrounding the drawdown that will begin… next month."

Carney said the two "discussed a range of options" for the troop drawdown, but declined to provide more details on the withdrawal or say when Obama would make a formal announcement about the pullout timetable.

In December 2009 Obama announced he would send another 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan, bringing the total deployed to 100,000, but would begin withdrawing forces in July 2011.

The White House has yet to say how many troops it will be pulling out or when, insisting such decisions will be based on conditions on the ground, where troops have been battling the Taliban for nearly a decade.

US support for the war — launched in the wake of the September 11 attacks in a bid to destroy Al-Qaeda — has waned in recent months, especially following the killing of the group's leader, Osama bin Laden, in May.