Months after the last executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs was fired, a new one has been appointed.
Former U.S. Navy Under Secretary Greg Slavonic, who was appointed as interim executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs earlier this year, was unanimously approved by the Oklahoma Veterans Commission to take on the position permanently earlier this week.
Slavonic became interim executive director after the Oklahoma Veterans Commission voted to terminate his predecessor, Joel Kintsel.
Kintsel, along with Attorney General Gentner Drummond and members of the state Legislature claimed Governor Kevin Stitt broke the law when he appointed some of the members of the commission without consulting local veterans' groups first.
As a result, Kintsel declined to attend multiple commission meetings, and the chair of the commission claims he was later fired for insubordination.
Slavonic had a lengthy Naval career and served in the Trump administration in various roles from 2018 through 2021.
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