President Trump Will Be Spending The Christmas Holidays Pondering A Replacement For Defense Secretary Mattis

The Guardian: Trump ponders Jim Mattis successor with non-military figures in the frame

* Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton among possible replacements
* Trump brings forward departure piqued by resignation letter

Names under consideration to replace Jim Mattis as US defense secretary are “not all military”, a leading Trump ally said, as the president pushed the respected retired marine general out of the White House door.

Mattis resigned this week but Trump brought forward his departure from the end of February to 1 January, piqued by a resignation letter which was strongly if implicitly critical of the president and which attracted favourable media coverage. Deputy defense secretary Patrick Shanahan will take over as acting secretary.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: In the meantime we will be hearing more from Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan .... ‘Fix-it’ man Shanahan working to streamline defense spending (AP).

President Obama's Former Defense Secretaries Are Critical Of His Syria Strategy

Gates and Panetta Critical of Obama On Syria -- New York Times

President Obama’s first two defense secretaries criticized the administration’s handling of the Syrian crisis on Tuesday night, saying they would not have asked Congress to authorize the use of force and would have accelerated the shipment of weapons to Syrian rebels.

While the two former Pentagon chiefs, Robert M. Gates and Leon E. Panetta, shared skepticism over the chances of Russia’s brokering a deal to effectively neuter Syria’s chemical weapons, they disagreed over whether focused, limited military strikes would have a strategic effect.

“My bottom line is that I believe that to blow a bunch of stuff up over a couple days, to underscore or validate a point or a principle, is not a strategy,” Mr. Gates said during a forum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “If we launch a military attack, in the eyes of a lot of people we become the villain instead of Assad,” a reference to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

Read more ....

More News On President Obama's Former Defense Secretaries Being Critical Of His Syria Strategy

Gates, Panetta question Obama's Syria strategy -- USA Today/AP
Former defense secretaries criticize Obama over Syria -- FOX News
Former Defense secretaries blast Obama's Syria strategy -- The Hill
Defense secretaries express doubt on Syria deal -- NECN

A Women U.S. Secretary Of Defense?

Michele Flournoy. Image Credit: Sgt. David A. Bryant (US Army)

A Woman Of Substance -- Paul Wolfowitz, AEI Ideas

I am not deeply familiar with Michele Flournoy’s record at the Defense Department or with her overall qualifications to be Secretary of Defense, but I know about one aspect of her work as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy that weighs heavily on the plus scale in considering her credentials for that important post.

When a new commander, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, was sent to Afghanistan in November of 2009 to take charge of the mission of training and organizing Afghan Security Forces, Flournoy told him – very correctly – that the success of his mission was the key to US success in Afghanistan and she didn’t think we were doing it very well. “I’m not sure what it takes to do better, but we must do better and I hope you will tell me what we need to do.”

Read more ....

My Comment: A surprising endorsement from Paul Wolfowitz. She and Amb. Susan Rice with Secretary of State Clinton are credited with the U.S. policy of getting rid of Libyan strongman Gaddafi last year .... so she is not a softy. But a women US Secretary of Defense .... now that will shake a few people .... and she will pass the confirmation process. But will President Obama choose her ..... during a time when deep budget cuts are needed .... I doubt it.

Update: Michele Flournoy Pushed for Pentagon Chief as ‘Stop Hagel’ Candidate -- Antiwar.com

On January 20, Robert Gates Will Leave The Building

Secretary Of Defense Robert Gates (Photo AFP)

From Westhawk:

The editors of Small Wars Journal have issued a plea for President-elect Obama to retain Robert Gates as the U.S. Secretary of Defense. I see very little chance of this happening. Robert Gates will leave The Building on January 20th.

Admirers of Secretary Gates see in him a man who has restored non-ideological civility to the Pentagon and the national security debate. They see Secretary Gates as someone who has compelled the Defense Department to get practical and to focus on the immediate tasks at hand, namely winning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Finally, they see in Mr. Gates a man who has not hesitated to slay high-ranking malefactors in his department for either disloyalty or incompetence.

Supporters of Secretary Gates hope that Mr. Obama will see that Mr. Gates is the most qualified man for the job, that he is a bipartisan figure, and that continuity is vital for success in the field.

These are all plausible arguments for retaining Mr. Gates. But there are other more compelling reasons why it won’t happen.

Read more ....

My Comment: There are too many fundamental defense and security differences between Gates and Obama. Within a week or two I expect Obama's new Defense Secretary to be named, and the transition will start ASAP.