{"id":21799,"date":"2019-03-28T14:34:11","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T14:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/03\/28\/whats-the-state-of-play-for-a-defense-secretary-shanahan\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:36:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:36:35","slug":"whats-the-state-of-play-for-a-defense-secretary-shanahan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2019\/03\/28\/whats-the-state-of-play-for-a-defense-secretary-shanahan\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the state of play for a \u2018Defense Secretary Shanahan\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MIAMI \u2014 Just a few weeks ago, it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/opinion\/commentary\/2019\/03\/14\/pat-shanahans-budget-hearing-could-make-or-break-any-secretary-of-defense-aspirations\/\" target=\"_blank\">seemed a formality<\/a> that Patrick Shanahan, the former Boeing executive who currently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2018\/12\/21\/with-mattis-out-is-shanahan-poised-to-rewire-the-pentagon\/\" target=\"_blank\">serves as acting secretary of defense<\/a>, would be the official nominee for President Donald Trump\u2019s second Pentagon chief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But on Wednesday, Sen. Jim Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, threw cold water on the idea that Shanahan is practically guaranteed the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf he hasn\u2019t done it until now \u2014 I\u2019m not casting any accusations or even expressing how I personally feel \u2014 but if the president hasn\u2019t done it by now, then apparently he\u2019s not going to,\u201d Inhofe told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2019-03-27\/shanahan-bid-for-permanent-defense-chief-doubted-as-trump-delays\" target=_blank>Bloomberg News<\/a> when asked if he thought Trump would nominate Shanahan.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2019\/03\/27\/shanahan-pushes-reprogramming-through-expects-consequences-from-house\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19073574545452.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">\u2018There are going to be consequences\u2019: Shanahan prepares for congressional pushback to reprogrammed funds<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Pentagon expects to be stripped of a key fiscal authority.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That comment comes as Shanahan has been increasingly vocal about his belief that he is the right man for the job. He told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defenseone.com\/politics\/2019\/03\/exclusive-patrick-shanahan-says-course-he-wants-be-defense-secretary\/155845\/?oref=d-topstory\" target=_blank>Defense One<\/a> on Tuesday that he wants the job, and on Wednesday he told reporters traveling with him that he has positives to offer the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI show up every day, put my shoulder to the wheel because I believe in what we\u2019re doing,\u201d he said while en route to Miami. \u201cI want to make a contribution to national defense. And I believe I can deliver on the National Defense Strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Part of the reason Shanahan was seen as a likely successor to Jim Mattis was because Trump has expressed personal affinity for the former executive. But assuming Trump \u2014 whose White House has been characterized by officials rapidly falling in and out of favor \u2014 hasn\u2019t soured on Shanahan, what could be the hold up?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A March 22 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/amp\/story\/2019\/03\/22\/shanahan-pentagon-nomination-boeing-1291109?__twitter_impression=true\" target=\"_blank\">Politico story<\/a> points to the ongoing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/03\/20\/ig-launches-investigation-into-shanahan-over-alleged-boeing-bias\/\" target=\"_blank\">Inspector General investigation<\/a> into Shanahan as a major factor that\u2019s putting his nomination on hold. The IG investigation was launched after the government watchdog CREW \u2014 or Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington \u2014 questioned whether Shanahan, who worked at Boeing for 30 years, breached his ethics arrangement in favor of his former employer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shanahan may be the most prominent figure within the administration whose ties to industry require recusals, but hardly the only one.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2019\/03\/22\/shanahan-ethics-agreement-released-in-wake-of-department-investigation\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19073574886378.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Shanahan ethics agreement released in wake of department investigation<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">New details have been released about the ethics pledge signed by Acting Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to Shanahan, those requiring ethics agreements include Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John Rood (Lockheed Martin); Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord (Textron Systems); Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin (Schafer Corporation); Chief information Officer Dana Deasy (JPMorgan Chase); Secretary of the Army Mark Esper (Raytheon); Under Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy (Lockheed Martin); and others all require some form of recusal from companies dealing with the Defense Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But none of those individuals have come under investigation, nor, with the exception of Esper, are any of them considered potential defense secretary candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking Wednesday, Shanahan expressed confidence the IG report would find no wrongdoing, saying: \u201cI welcome it. It\u2019s not an issue to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI appreciate the IG addressing these accusations,\u201d he added. \u201cWhat I would say is, look, I have over 30 years of experience doing large-scale engineering and manufacturing. I\u2019ve brought that experience, management expertise to the Department of Defense. What I would tell people is I\u2019m not at all biased towards Boeing. I\u2019m biased toward performance for the Department of Defense, I\u2019m biased toward performance for the taxpayer and most importantly I\u2019m biased towards performance for the war fighter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He then seemed to point directly at one of the prime accusations in the CREW complaint \u2014 that he referred to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as \u201cf&#8212;ed up\u201d \u2014 saying the jet\u2019s manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, \u201cdoesn\u2019t know how to run a program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI would also add: I know substandard industry performance. And I am an equal opportunity critic of substandard-performing programs. And I will always criticize substandard performance,\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cMy history has always been to call things the way I see it because at the end of the day, that\u2019s what our war fighters deserve and that\u2019s why I joined the Department of Defense.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Patrick Shanahan has been increasingly vocal about his belief that he is the right man to lead the Pentagon. But there are a few factors at play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":66650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":38,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[38,106,31,15,68,33,9],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3277],"class_list":["post-21799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-management","category-leadership","category-newsletters","category-federal-oversight"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"TSW6E5HUYRF2ZHEXHXBUNKEMCA","arc_canonical_url":"\/pentagon\/2019\/03\/28\/whats-the-state-of-play-for-a-defense-secretary-shanahan\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What\u2019s the state of play for a \u2018Defense Secretary Shanahan\u2019? - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Patrick Shanahan has been increasingly vocal about his belief that he is the right man to lead the Pentagon. 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