Former Boeing executive, who was Mattis’ deputy at the Pentagon, will begin role on January 1
President Donald Trump, who aides said has been frustrated by news coverage of Defence Secretary James Mattis’s scathing resignation letter, abruptly announced Sunday that he was removing Mattis two months before his planned departure and installing Patrick Shanahan as acting defence secretary.
Shanahan, a former Boeing executive who has been Mattis’ deputy at the Pentagon, will assume the top job on an acting capacity beginning January 1, Trump said.
Mattis resigned in protest last week after Trump announced the withdrawal of US troops from Syria over the strong objections of Mattis and others on the national security team. Brett McGurk, the top US envoy to the international coalition fighting the Islamic State militant group, also resigned in protect over Trump’s Syria decision.
In his Thursday resignation letter, Mattis delivered a sharp rebuke of Trump’s world view and cast the president’s foreign policy positions as a threat to the nation.
Mattis said in the letter that he would resign his post on February 28, to allow for a smooth transition to the next defence secretary. But Trump decided to hasten the process, announcing Sunday on Twitter that Shanahan would replace Mattis imminently.
“I am pleased to announce that our very talented Deputy Secretary of Defence, Patrick Shanahan, will assume the title of Acting Secretary of Defence starting January 1,2019,” Trump wrote. “Patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as Deputy, and previously Boeing. He will be great!”
The announcement appeared to catch Pentagon officials off guard. Shanahan was travelling away from Washington when Trump tweeted his decision, and a spokesman for Shanahan declined to comment.
Another defence official, who is close to Mattis and spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said, “I think it’s fair to say that there is a lot of uncertainty about this week. I think all of this is coming down in the last hour.”
Army Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, issued a statement Sunday that did not directly address the personnel changes.
