The precarious perch of a potential Pentagon chief
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2019, photo, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, left, arrives in Kabul, Afghanistan to consult with Army Gen. Scott Miller, right, commander of U.S. and coalition forces, and senior Afghan government leaders. Shanahan, the former Boeing executive, was in a familiar place, aboard an airplane, when he got word of a bolt-from-the-blue political shot across his bow. A key senator seemed to have buried Shanahan’s chances of being nominated as the next secretary of defense. The crisis passed, but it highlighted the precarious position Shanahan occupies as he waits for President Donald Trump to decide who he will successor to Jim Mattis as leader of the Pentagon. (AP Photo/Robert Burns)
With no other candidate emerging as the clear front-runner, expectations inside the Pentagon are that Patrick Shanahan will soon be nominated as the next secretary of defense and that he likely would win Senate confirmation.
Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, would be the first career defense industry executive to serve as defense secretary.
He has been the acting secretary since Jim Mattis left Dec. 31. Since then, Shanahan has avoided public missteps while handling such politically sensitive issues as sending military reinforcements to the U.S.-Mexico border.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Some have questioned whether his background amounts to an inherent conflict of interest for a defense secretary presiding over a multi-billion-dollar procurement budget. But Michael O'Hanlon, an analyst at the Brookings Institution, says that experience in defense industry issues could work to Shanahan's benefit.