•AGRICULTURE: Secretary Mike Johanns announced the appointment of two state executive directors under the Farm Service Agency. Agency veteran Robert Ferrebee will cover West Virginia while Nancy Lou Dietz will cover Michigan.

•DEFENSE: President Bush nominated Navy Vice Adm. Evan Chanik Jr., to be commander of the Second Fleet, based in Norfolk, Va. Chanik will leave a post at the Pentagon to assume his command.

•ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION: The president nominated White House aide and former Homeland Security official Caroline Hunter to be commissioner.

•EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION: President Bush nominated Department of Justice civil rights- and employment-law attorney David Palmer to be a commissioner.

•HOMELAND SECURITY: Maureen McCarthy is the department’s new senior adviser for Weapons of Mass Destruction Intelligence Programs.

Motorola executive Richard Barth is the new assistant secretary for policy development.

Greg Garcia is the nominee to become assistant secretary for cybersecurity and telecommunications, a new position.

•JUDICIARY: The president nominated Thomas Hardiman to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.

•SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION: The president nominated former Department of Health and Human Services senior official Michael Astrue to be commissioner.

•SOCIAL SECURITY ADVISORY BOARD: President Bush plans to name Sylvester Scheiber chairman and Mark Warshawsky and Dana Bilyeu members.

•TREASURY: President Bush plans to nominate Michele Davis to be assistant secretary for public affairs, a position she previously held before stints at Fannie Mae and the National Security Council.

•WHITE HOUSE: President Bush has named former U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Andrew Natsios to be his special envoy for Sudan.

President Bush has named two new special assistants for policy. Jeremy Katz and Myriah Jordan each previously served as special assistant to the chief of staff for policy.