{"id":136101,"date":"2019-11-27T13:57:42","date_gmt":"2019-11-27T13:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smg.go-vip.net\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/11\/27\/meet-kenneth-braithwaite-pick-for-navy-secretary-and-staunch-trump-ally\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:14:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:14:52","slug":"meet-kenneth-braithwaite-pick-for-navy-secretary-and-staunch-trump-ally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/11\/27\/meet-kenneth-braithwaite-pick-for-navy-secretary-and-staunch-trump-ally\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Kenneth Braithwaite, pick for Navy secretary, and staunch Trump ally"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 During his nearly two years serving as U.S. ambassador to Norway, President Donald Trump\u2019s replacement for abruptly ousted<\/a> Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, Kenneth \u201cK.J.\u201d Braithwaite, pressed NATO allies to boost their defense spending while assuring the U.S. would never desert the 70-year-old pact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a job complicated by Trump\u2019s sometimes bruising rhetoric<\/a> and capricious foreign policy decisions, but Braithwaite, 59, has worked to reframe Trump for the overseas audience, mostly with a polish and poise commensurate with Braithwaite\u2019s experience as a former Navy spokesman and rear admiral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDonald Trump is not a politician, he speaks his mind, and sometimes without a filter,\u201d Braithwaite told the audience at an Oslo security conference on Oct. 16. \u201cHe\u2019s definitely not a diplomat. I think we all know that. He\u2019s a businessman … One of the worst things you can do when you enter a room to negotiate is be predictable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Oslo recommitted<\/a> last year to spend the NATO target of 2 percent of annual gross domestic product on defense amid direct pressure<\/a> from Trump, Braithwaite has not let up on Russia\u2019s wealthy Nordic neighbor. He\u2019s said America values NATO deeply, but that its $22 trillion debt means it can no longer subsidize Europe\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when a conference-goer predicted the U.S. would exit NATO if Trump won reelection in 2020, a fired up Braithwaite insisted Trump would not and could not do so unilaterally. Braithwaite never uttered his boss\u2019s catchphrase \u201cfake news,\u201d but he blamed America\u2019s politicized and market-driven media for perceptions to the contrary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor all those to the left or to the right that … sensationalize the United States pulling out of NATO, I mean that\u2019s just \u2015 excuse the vernacular as a sailor \u2015 but that\u2019s just bullshit,\u201d Braithwaite said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some credit<\/a> Trump with the boost in NATO spending, but his multiple<\/a> jabs <\/a>and false claims<\/a> about NATO have been one of the most vexing aspects of his presidency to date for allies, career diplomats and Pentagon officials. It\u2019s enough of an open question that even U.S. lawmakers have looked to seal the exit<\/a> on multiple occasions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Pentagon, Braithwaite\u2019s Norway messaging experience might translate to the Pacific, a key theater for the Navy and one where a U.S. push on burden sharing<\/a> last week overshadowed<\/a> Esper\u2019s emphasis on old and new partnerships to counter China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Trump, Braithwaite would be closer to him and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and also more aligned with him philosophically than Spencer, a financier who had served on the board of the centrist Center for a New American Security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKenneth Braithwaite is somebody I\u2019ve known for quite some time. I think he\u2019d be very capable. It\u2019s my recommendation to the president,\u201d Esper told reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sideboys salute as Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer approaches the amphibious dock landing ship Comstock on Sept. 17 during Arctic Expeditionary Capabilities Exercise 2019. The drills test expeditionary logistical capabilities in the Arctic region and prepare joint forces to respond to crises. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Nicholas Burgains\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Braithwaite\u2019s job qualifications include 31 years in the Navy and Naval Reserve, but he also shares a connection to Esper in David Urban, a lobbyist and CNN commentator who helped advise the president\u2019s successful 2016 campaign in Pennsylvania. Urban is also credited<\/a> with propelling his fellow West Point classmates, Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to their Cabinet posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As chief of staff for then-Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter in the late 1990s, Urban hired Braithwaite, his University of Pennsylvania classmate, to run Specter\u2019s local office. The two remained close, and Braithwaite both worked on Trump\u2019s Pennsylvania campaign and his transition team at the Pentagon<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Braithwaite\u2019s confirmation hearing in 2017, he thanked, \u201cmy best friend, Mr. David Urban, a West Point graduate and proof the Army and the Navy can get along well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban told Defense News he believed that if Braithwaite, a husband and father, is confirmed, he would prioritize Navy families and take his cues from Esper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tough time right now for the Navy, but Ken has the right personality, he\u2019s a consensus builder, he has respect for the fleet, the Pentagon and the White House. He\u2019s the perfect guy, and I think he\u2019ll do a great job,\u201d Urban said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president and some lawmakers soured on Spencer in part after he broke a promise to fix all eleven of the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier\u2019s weapons elevators by the time it launched sea trials in August. Braithwaite will have his work cut out for him with the Ford and other problem-plagued programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"U.S.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, left, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brief the media at a press conference following annual bilateral talks with Australian counterparts in Sydney, Australia, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019. (Rick Rycroft\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Michigan native and 1984 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Braithwaite has said he was inspired to serve by his father, who was wounded while landing at Normandy during World War II. Braithwaite was high speed, the first of his class selected for flag rank after only 21 years of military service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier in his career, he was an anti-submarine warfare pilot who tracked Soviet submarines in western Pacific and Indian Oceans for a Hawaii-based patrol squadron. From there, he served in various communications and legislative affairs roles before leaving active service in 1993 and the Naval Reserve in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the massive 2005 Kashmir earthquake, Braithwaite, then a senior strategic communications specialist, supported the massive U.S. relief effort, former career ambassador Ryan Crocker recalled. When the U.S. struggled to tell its story and anti-American sentiment was high, Braithwaite turned it around by having the U.S. fly Pakistani journalists to the remote disaster zone to see Americans helping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braithwaite was an astute questioner, a good listener and innately credible\u2015all valuable skills for the Navy\u2019s rough transition and beyond. \u201cHe was fantastic,\u201d Crocker said. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously a huge advantage he was in the Navy, a service he deeply loves. He will communicate the values and traditions of the Navy, and all it does in our society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Braithwaite\u2019s confirmation hearing, he acknowledged Russia\u2019s election meddling and its reinstitution of strategic bomber flights along the Norwegian coast, as well as Norway\u2019s planned purchase of the Lockheed F-35 fighter aircraft and Boeing P-8 maritime patrol aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As ambassador, he focused on the security of the Arctic, a region that\u2019s seeing an uptick in Russian and NATO activity. He accompanied Norway\u2019s prime minister about the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) during a port visit in Oslo, after the conclusion of Trident Juncture \u2015 the largest NATO exercise in years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, he published an op-ed in the Norwegian outlet VG, pointing to Russia\u2019s aggressive behavior in Georgia, Ukraine and Crimea to urge Norway to follow through on its defense spending pledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile I do not think Norway is at risk of an invasion, I would like to quote George Marshall, General, Statesman and Nobel Laureate who once said, \u2018the only way to win the next world war is to prevent it,\u2019\u201d he wrote. \u201cI firmly believe a strong and adequate defense as part of the NATO Alliance is the only guarantee that Norway has the capability to deter any aggressive act directed at them by any who would threaten your sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deemed an astute questioner, a good listener and innately credible \u2015 Braithwaite is thought to have the skills needed to manage the Navy\u2019s rough transition and beyond. 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