Former Olympic swimmer Donna de Varona, attorney Roberta Cooper Ramo and former USOC executive director Harvey Schiller also were recommended for spots on the commission that would review the agency following a series of ethics problems and management turnover.
US Senators John McCain, Ted Stevens and Ben Nighthorse Campbell made the recommendations to the USOC, which said it welcomed the move. It also said it would go ahead with its own internal management and ethics review.
The three Republican senators, who all attended Commerce Committee hearings last month on the USOC's problems, want the commission to recommend changes by June 30.
"The testimony of those who appeared before the committee and media reports suggest that the USOC is dysfunctional and in need of review," the senators said in a letter to Bill Martin, the USOC's interim president.
While the USOC would pay for the investigation, the senators said it was "critical that the commission function independently."
Their letter also said that none of the investigative money should be taken from funds designed to help athletes.
