{"id":53040,"date":"2019-06-11T19:09:04","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T19:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/06\/11\/why-its-taking-so-long-to-confirm-trumps-defense-secretary-choice\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:11:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:11:22","slug":"why-its-taking-so-long-to-confirm-trumps-defense-secretary-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/06\/11\/why-its-taking-so-long-to-confirm-trumps-defense-secretary-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"Why it\u2019s taking so long to confirm Trump\u2019s defense secretary choice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Donald Trump announced Patrick Shanahan as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/05\/09\/trump-nominates-shanahan-as-next-defense-secretary\/\" target=_blank>his pick to lead the Pentagon<\/a> a month ago, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2019\/05\/15\/for-shanahan-looks-like-a-rocky-road-to-defense-secretary\/\" target=_blank>his confirmation hearing<\/a> is likely still a few weeks away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s because Senate Armed Services Committee officials are waiting on an FBI background check and other formal paperwork from the executive branch before they can move ahead with the process, a move the panel\u2019s chairman hopes will move quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI would like to do it soon, because I\u2019m the guy who has been yelling and screaming that we have to have this nomination confirmed,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2019\/02\/16\/inhofe-says-hes-open-to-shanahan-for-permanent-defense-secretary\/\" target=_blank>Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla<\/a>., said Tuesday when asked about Shanahan\u2019s status. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have him confirmed, all these people he is dealing with don\u2019t know if they are dealing with the right person. I have heard this personally.\u201d<\/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\/06\/05\/the-pentagons-no-3-official-needs-a-nomination-in-june-or-else\/\" 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=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/hersman.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\">The Pentagon\u2019s No. 3 official needs a nomination in June \u2014 or else<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Lisa Hershman&#039;s time as acting chief management officer may be coming to a close.<\/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\">Earlier in the day, in response to news reports that the White House may be reconsidering Shanahan\u2019s nomination, Trump said the decision was \u201cdone\u201d and that the nominee \u201chas to go through the process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inhofe said the White House has clearly communicated its intent to make Shanahan the next secretary of defense, and the process so far has not raised any concerns for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said getting the confirmation hearing finished and a full Senate vote scheduled before the July recess \u201cwould be pretty optimistic\u201d but he is confident the work can be finished before August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle for the last year have lamented the slow pace of nominations for numerous federal posts, including several other high-profile defense jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shanahan, who was confirmed as deputy secretary of defense by a 92-7 vote almost two years ago, was named the acting Pentagon head when former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was forced out of that Cabinet post on Jan. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 56-year-old nominee worked as an executive at Boeing prior to his work in the Trump administration and has received positive reviews from the commander in chief for his work overseeing and reforming Pentagon operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His reception on Capitol Hill has been less enthusiastic, with Democratic lawmakers questioning his industry ties and his backing of Trump\u2019s controversial deployment of troops to the southern U.S. border.<\/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\/congress\/2019\/05\/15\/for-shanahan-looks-like-a-rocky-road-to-defense-secretary\/\" 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\/AP_19074679643347.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\">For Shanahan, it looks like a rocky road to defense secretary<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Key Democrats are signaling that Patrick Shanahan, the acting defense secretary who was informally nominated for the permanent role last week, will face tough questioning.<\/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\">Inhofe, who earlier in the year had criticized Shanahan, has offered strong support for him as the new defense secretary over the last few months. He has also repeatedly pressed Trump to move on the nomination, saying the uncertainty surrounding military leadership is hurting long-term planning and relationships with allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said committee staff is hopeful they\u2019ll be able to move ahead with scheduling a confirmation hearing date very soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c(The FBI check) could be really short on him, because he went through a check not long ago,\u201d he said. \u201cThis shouldn\u2019t take long.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senate officials are hopeful they can finish the work before August, as they wait for White House paperwork.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":91657,"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":62,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,12,26,62,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-53040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"6TYJI5CUHNCQTPUC56N3HDJVNU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/06\/11\/why-its-taking-so-long-to-confirm-trumps-defense-secretary-choice\/","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>Why it\u2019s taking so long to confirm Trump\u2019s defense secretary choice - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Senate officials are hopeful they can finish the work before August, as they wait for White House paperwork.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/06\/11\/why-its-taking-so-long-to-confirm-trumps-defense-secretary-choice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why it\u2019s taking so long to confirm Trump\u2019s defense secretary choice\" \/>\n<meta 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