Trump picks former Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan for defense secretary

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

President Trump intends to nominate acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan to remain in the top Pentagon job, the White House said Thursday, a pointed reversal from an era when the president relied primarily on generals to craft military and foreign policy.

Shanahan “has proven over the last several months that he is beyond qualified to lead the Department of Defense, and he will continue to do an excellent job,” said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.

The longtime Boeing executive has served as acting defense secretary since his predecessor, Jim Mattis, resigned late last year over differences with the president. He was recently cleared by the Defense Department Inspector General of allegations that he was partial to his former employer while serving in the Pentagon’s No. 2 job under Mattis.

The announcement comes at a challenging time when the Trump administration has been grappling with potential confrontations with Iran, North Korea and Venezuela. Before joining the Pentagon in 2017, Shanahan spent his career in the private sector with little foreign policy experience and no military background.

-snip-

By Missy Ryan and Paul Sonne May 9 at 4:21 PM


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2019/05/09/trump-picks-patrick-shanahan-for-defense-secretary-white-house-says-the-ex-boeing-executive-has-been-acting-head-since-january/

[TygrBright]

1. Wait, wut?!? Boeing? The guys who can't keep their planes in the air?

Oh, yeah, this'll work.



skeptically,
Bright

[still_one]

2. WTF. The guy isn't qualified for SOD. He has no mililtary experience. This is absolutely insane

McCain was very much against this

He has been a Boeing exec. Absolutely no Pentagon experience.

That is just what we need, on the job training when trump and company are threatening war with three countries right now

Robert McNamara was another corporate executive, and that worked out real well for us. Just look at Viet Nam

[TomVilmer]

11. More than one in four defense secretaries never served in the Armed Forces

... 6 of 21 (29 percent). Four of these six men without military service were appointed by Republican presidents: Charles Wilson (Eisenhower), Neil McElroy (Eisenhower), James Schlesinger (Nixon), and Dick Cheney (George H.W. Bush). Harold Brown (appointed by Carter) and William Cohen (Clinton) also never served.
https://editions.lib.umn.edu/smartpolitics/2011/04/28/how-many-us-secretaries-of-def/

This is an ever going discussion, if (military) experience is needed to do such a job.

[SunSeeker]

13. Ok. But how does building planes give him military expertise?

I get that there are other ways to gain military expertise besides serving in the military, such as academic study, civilian oversight boards, etc., but building planes? Like I said below, that's like hiring a school supply vendor to run a school district.

[TomVilmer]

16. In Denmark we had a female secretary of defense...

... with no military experience at all. She was conservative, and did exactly what all the others before her had done. Not better, not worse and not feminist in any way. She threw Denmark into the civil war of Libya, and then became lobbyist for Eurofighter.

I am educated as a journalist, and we have the same discussion about what is needed to write about a subject. For most of us the conclusion is, that the ability to listen and to detect good questions is much more important. The best journalists in Denmark writing about defense had no prior knowledge at all.

I have good contacts in the military myself, and know there are some very fine people inside. Our military intelligence service are talking the threat from Russia down, while our secretary of defense is contradicting this - his ideology is stronger than his need for real knowledge.

I do not care if our secretary of defense has a military background or not. But I need him to understand, that now he works for the people - not the military. And since I would like to make this world more peaceful, I would like good people in front who knows there are other solutions.

[SunSeeker]

17. My guess is a lifelong Boeing plane builder is going to think buying more planes is the answer.

To a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

[TomVilmer]

18. Yes, and most officers can only see military solutions!

[SunSeeker]

20. Officers who have actually been to war don't relish another fight.

This guy, who probably holds a lot of stock in Being, only knows war as a profit-making venture.

[NotHardly]

3. What Could Go Wrong????

[beachbum bob]

4. DOD spends BIG money on Boeing so it makes perfect sense

[rurallib]

5. in an administration that is headed to crash and burn

what could be more symbolic than hiring the guy who built planes that did just that?

[BigmanPigman]

6. This makes perfect sense for tRump's bizarro cabinet picks.

[ehrnst]

7. Rly? Boeing? Now? (nt)

[yaesu]

8. That swamp is growing bigger than tRumps waste line nt

[jmbar2]

9. Pat, call me before you sign on...

Regards,
Rex

[cstanleytech]

10. Hardly surprising as its clear Trump wants to 737 Max the country

as much as his fellow Repugnants in the House and Senate want to especially as a weakened Fed government makes getting away with crimes easier.

[SunSeeker]

12. This is like hiring the school supply vendor to run the school district.

How in the ever loving fuck is this dickweed qualified?!

[Honeycombe8]

14. I smell war. War that requires new planes. Boeing planes.

He USED to be an exec there, but wanna bet he still holds beaucoup shares of stock or has a monetary interest in it?

[Harker]

15. His best, brightest qualification

is presumably that he'll do what he's told.

[crazytown]

19. Hey Spanky, I've got a great idea

Get Shanahan to retrofit Airforce One with that awesome maneuvering system. Nothing but the best for the best.

[DeminPennswoods]

21. Revolving door between military and civilian jobs

has been spinning rapidly for a long time. Keep in mind, that Boeing bought McDonnell-Douglas so they do have a lot of experience building aircraft for the military.