Navy secretary to stay on for now

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Navy Secretary Donald Winter plans to stay in office until March 13 or when he is relieved by his replacement, whichever comes first, a Navy official said on Tuesday.

Winter, a former executive with Northrop Grumman Corp, has been critical of work by the U.S. defense industry on several major shipbuilding programs.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has agreed to stay on in his job under President-elect Barack Obama, but Winter and the other service secretaries are expected to leave office when their replacements arrive.

Last week, Obama named four former Clinton administration officials to top defense positions, including former Pentagon comptroller William Lynn, a senior executive with Raytheon Co, as deputy defense secretary.

Obama also named Michele Flournoy, a former principal deputy assistant defense secretary, to become under secretary of defense for policy; and Robert Hale, former assistant secretary of the Air Force, as comptroller. Jeh Johnson, former Air Force general counsel, was named to become Defense Department general counsel.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)