Who Needs a Secretary of Defense, Anyway?
No one has been in charge since James Mattis at the end of last year. There’s an acting secretary of defense and an acting deputy secretary; the latter is also the department’s full-time chief financial officer. Decision-making power has devolved to the military services—Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines—but they’re teetering too, now that Trump has also announced a successor to the nation’s top military officer nearly a year before the current one’s term is up, thus diminishing his authority too.
How long can the Defense Department run on autopilot, with its $717 billion budget and its more than 2 million employees (including 1.3 million active-duty service members)? Trump seems more than willing to go for a record.
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Steve Bannon once called for the “deconstruction of the administrative state,” and that’s one goal that his protégé in chief is still pursuing. Trump wants to concentrate power in his small circle inside the White House, and to the extent delegation to others is necessary, he wants them to fear and tremble before him.
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These moves, together, led to an exodus of talented civilian specialists and analysts from the Pentagon—and also strengthened Trump’s power, as military officers are trained to salute, not to argue with, the president.
... more at https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/02/trump-james-mattis-defense-secretary-replacement.amp
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Last i knew, Trump hadn't even bothered to assign ambassadors to some major countries - South Korea comes to mind... 
