U.S. President Donald Trump (L) listens next to Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan during a Cabinet meeting on day 12 of the partial U.S. government shutdown at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 2, 2019. REUTERS/Jim Young
Defense One: EXCLUSIVE: Patrick Shanahan Says ‘Of Course’ He Wants to Be Defense Secretary
Under increasing scrutiny, the acting secretary — and his allies — make the case for President Trump to nominate him.
Patrick Shanahan, the acting defense secretary whose bid to formally replace Jim Mattis is in limbo, answers without hesitation when asked if he wants the job.
“Of course,” the Boeing executive-turned-Pentagon No. 2 said with a smile Tuesday, after a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
“I think I can serve the department well,” he said in a brief interview with Defense One. “I’ve spent nearly two years on the National Defense Strategy. I know the defense strategy, I know what it takes to see it though, and I think I can make a big impact in that area.”
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WNU Editor: If nominated he has to convince the US Senate, and I willing to bet that it will be a confirmation fight that he has a good chance of losing due to his close ties to Boeing, and his history of annoying Republican Senators .... Shanahan, Graham spar over troops withdrawal from Syria (NBC).
He knows the defense strategy in the department of war.
ReplyDeleteI would anticipate that Mr. Shanahan would have a hard time being confirmed. This is to bad. At this point, he's a far better person for this job than General Mattis would have been and probably a better person for the job in general than General Mattis ever was. It's very difficult to get good people confirmed to important positions now. Those not wishing to tow the line of the deep state have a more difficult path ahead of them than those that will.
ReplyDeleteHow dare he side with the POTUS's common sense policy suggestion that would get the US out of Syria?!!? A department head who attempts to carry out the policies of the chief executive who hired them to that position, what a novel idea!!
At the time this came out, I suspected the "crisis" over the Boeing planes was a made up one that was a manufactured crisis designed to hurt the man that POTUS would want as his Secretary of Defense and if they need to hurt a major US company as well as a major defense contractor in order to undermine the POTUS they loathe then so be it. Hatred is a terrible thing that does terrible things to a mind even leading people to do things that undermine their own interests!!