Who Will Be The Next U.S. Secretary Of Defense?

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

Business Insider/Foreign Policy: The Pentagon's top job has been formally empty since Jim Mattis left, and things don't look good for his successor

* This week was expected to see Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan official nominated for the top spot at the Pentagon.
* But lawmakers grilled Shanahan, and remains unclear when the Pentagon will have a formal leader.

A good number of people in the defense community thought this would be the week that Patrick Shanahan finally escaped the dubious distinction of being America's longest-running acting secretary of defense. It was expected that President Donald Trump would officially nominate Shanahan to replace James Mattis as Pentagon chief on Friday.

Didn't happen. Even though there was a meeting at the Pentagon on Friday that featured the administration's national security heavyweights—Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton, as well as Shanahan and the president himself—more than two months after Mattis's last day, his formal successor remains a mystery.

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WNU Editor: It appears that Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan does not have much support in the US Senate .... something that he will need if he is to be confirmed as Secretary of Defense. So is it is not Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, who will it be? I have no clue on who that may be.