Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers swore in Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani Jr. as the nation's seventh vice chairman during a ceremony here today.
Giambastiani replaces Marine Gen. Peter Pace. Pace will replace Myers as chairman at the end of September.
During the small, private ceremony in Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's Pentagon office, Giambastiani assumed responsibilities as the second-highest ranking member of the U.S. military. The vice chairman has a full vote as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which includes all the uniformed service branch heads.
The admiral had been commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command and NATO'S Allied Command Transformation until he relinquished those offices Aug. 1.
Giambastiani is originally from Canastota, N.Y., and is a 1970 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. He is a career submariner serving aboard the USS Puffer, USS Francis Scott Key and the USS Richard B. Russell. The admiral commanded the NR-1, the Navy's only nuclear-powered, deep-diving ocean and engineering submarine.
The admiral also has served in various capacities ashore, including assignments with the Navy's Recruiting Command, on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations and as the senior military assistant to Rumsfeld.
Story by Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service