US allies look for clues on acting Pentagon chief
BRUSSELS: US allies will use the opportunity of Patrick Shanahan’s first Nato ministers meeting this week to see whether the acting defence secretary will be as supportive of the military alliance as his predecessor was, defence officials and experts said.
Mr Shanahan, a former Boeing Co executive who has mostly focused on internal issues since he joined the Pentagon in July
2017, took over on Jan 1 from former secretary Jim Mattis, who quit over policy differences with US President Donald Trump.
In his resignation letter, Mr Mattis laid bare what he saw as an irreparable divide between himself and Mr Trump, and implicitly criticised the president for failing to value allies who have fought alongside the United States in several wars. Mr Mattis mentioned Nato twice.
Mr Shanahan, who served as Mr Mattis’ deputy, is not as well known in foreign policy circles, and allies are keen to see whether he will push back on rhetoric by Mr Trump that has questioned the need for Nato.
Until earlier this week, Mr Shanahan had never visited Afghanistan or Iraq, where the United States still has about 19,000 troops.
A European Nato diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the hope was that Mr Shanahan would be someone they could trust and work with.
“Mattis was one of the few remaining senior Trump administration officials we could rely on, so there’s a great sense of loss,” the diplomat said. “Frankly, Shanahan is an unknown to us.”
While Mr Trump has said Mr Shanahan is doing a good job, there is no certainty that he will be formally nominated for the position, which Mr Trump shuffled Mr Mattis out of just 11 days after he resigned.
Mr Shanahan has been serving in an acting capacity since the start of the year. The longest-serving acting defence secretary, William Taft, did the job for 60 days.
In a sign of just how precarious his situation is, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said on Tuesday he did not think Mr Trump would nominate Mr Shanahan.
Asked about Senator James Inhofe’s comments, Mr Shanahan told reporters in Brussels, “Whether there is acting next to your name or not, it’s the same job, I’ll do the job the same way.
“It’s a pleasure to serve in this role,” he said.