Trump taps former Wake schools, NCDOT chief for top Pentagon post

Tony Tata, who once served as Wake County schools superintendent and as chief of the state Department of Transportation, could soon take a top job at the Pentagon, according to media reports.

President Donald Trump plans to nominate Tata as undersecretary of defense for policy. The move was first reported by Bloomberg News and later confirmed by Politico and other Capitol Hill media sites.

If confirmed by the Senate, Tata would replace John Rood, who was forced out in February after two years in the job.

Tata retired from the Army in 2008 as a one-star general, and after a stint as an administrator in the Washington, D.C., school district, he was hired to lead the Wake County Public School System in December 2010.

His tenure in Raleigh was marked by a deep partisan divide on the school board over issues such as funding, busing and school reassignment. The divided board fired him after less than two years on the job.

Within months, incoming Gov. Pat McCrory picked him as secretary of transportation for his new administration. Tata resigned as DOT chief in July 2015.

In recent years, he has become a frequent contributor to FOX News, and he has written several spy novels. His LinkedIn profile says he has served as chief growth officer at Arlington, Va.-based Air Data Solutions, a high-resolution aerial photography firm, since March 2019.