He has been serving as acting defense secretary since February
President Trump intends to officially nominate Patrick Shanahan, who has been acting defense secretary since Feburary, to be defense secretary, after several months in the position in an acting capacity, following the departure of Defense Secretary James Mattis. Here’s what to know about the new defense secretary:
Before he was named acting defense secretary, Shanahan, a longtime Boeing executive, served as deputy defense secretary.
Shanahan was vice president and general manager of the Boeing 757 program, and he also worked on the 737,747,767,777, and 787 commercial airline programs. He was then vice president and general manager for Boeing Rotorcraft Systems in Philadelphia, where he responsible for all U. S. Army Aviation programs and site activities in Philadelphia and Mesa, Arizona.
His career at Boeing was a mix of military-related and commercial positions. He was vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems, and next served as senior vice president of Airplane Programs at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He became senior vice president of Supply Chain & Operations at Boeing in 2016.
Mr. Trump nominated Shanahan to become deputy defense secretary in March 2017, so that he could assist with the president’s planned expansion of the military.
