President Donald Trump has privately said he wants to nominate Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan to the position permanently, according to CNN.
“Why can’t I keep Shanahan?” Trump asked, according to CNN’s source. “He’s good, right? He’s doing a good job for me.”
Shanahan has been the interim secretary since Jim Mattis left the job at the end of the year.
As On Base has reported, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) backtracked after saying recently he doesn’t think Shanahan could do the job permanently, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) had a high-profile run-in with Shanahan over Syria policy.
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson’s name has also been mentioned for the job.
Trump has said he likes when job placements are temporary, because it gives him more “flexibility.”
“It’s easier to make moves when they’re acting,” he told a TV interviewer, AP noted.
 
DOD photo by Lisa Ferdinando