Sunday, December 23, 2018

Trump Forces Mattis Out as Defense Secretary Two Months Early

Mattis Trump
James "Mad Dog" Mattis who had tendered his resignation, effective February 28, 2019,  to President Trump earlier this week (See: Defense Secretary Mattis Leaving Administration), has been forced out by Trump effective Dec 31, 2018.

This is a developing story. Return to this post for updates.

UPDATE 1

Trump has named Patrick Shanahan as acting defense secretary.

UPDATE 2

This is a wise strategic political move given the Mattis resignation letter which was a thinly disguised attack on Trump. Mattis was due to testify before both armed services committees in January, and planned to make one last visit to meet with NATO. He would have used both opportunities to further badmouth Trump.

UPDATE 3

The Trump tweet:
UPDATE 4

From The Washington Post:

The announcement appeared to catch Pentagon officials off guard.

UPDATE 5

The US Dept. of Defense bio:
Patrick M. Shanahan became the 33rd Deputy Secretary of Defense on July 19, 2017.

Patrick M. Shanahan
Mr. Shanahan most recently served as Boeing senior vice president, Supply Chain & Operations. A Washington state native, Mr. Shanahan joined Boeing in 1986 and spent over three decades with the company. He previously worked as senior vice president of Commercial Airplane Programs, managing profit and loss for the 737, 747, 767, 777 and 787 programs and the operations at Boeing's principal manufacturing sites; as vice president and general manager of the 787 Dreamliner, leading the program during a critical development period; as vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems, overseeing the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, Airborne Laser and Advanced Tactical Laser; and as vice president and general manager of Boeing Rotorcraft Systems, overseeing the Apache, Chinook and Osprey. He previously held leadership positions on the 757 program, 767 program and in the fabrication division.

Mr. Shanahan is a Royal Aeronautical Society Fellow, Society of Manufacturing Engineers Fellow and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Associate Fellow. He served as a regent at the University of Washington for over five years.

Mr. Shanahan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington and two advanced degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering, and an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
UPDATE 6

A good sign.

McCain tried to block Shanahan because of his sane policy perspective on Ukraine.
UPDATE 7

But then there is this:


-RW 

1 comment:

  1. Trump is going to be a mixed bag precisely because he has no foundational political views. His is not even close to being a Libertarian. He's a CEO trying to make his company profitable. He's going to hire cabinet members who have experience in running the divisions they're in charge of. This is textbook CEO filling SVP roles. If you could look at "as vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems, overseeing the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, Airborne Laser and Advanced Tactical Laser; and as vice president and general manager of Boeing Rotorcraft Systems, overseeing the Apache, Chinook and Osprey" and think he wasn't going to be another swampster, you're not understanding how Trump is operating.

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