Two progressive House Democrats penned a letter to Joe Biden, urging him not to appoint someone to the position of secretary of defense who has previously worked in the weapons industry. The letter was released Thursday by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI).
“Respectfully, and in full agreement with your past statements, we write to request that the next secretary of defense have no prior employment history with a defense contractor,” the letter reads. The lawmakers used President Trump’s previous Pentagon chiefs as examples of the revolving door between the arms industry and Pentagon leaders.
Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who was fired this week, worked for Raytheon before joining the Trump administration. Patrick Shanahan, former acting secretary, worked for Boeing for over 30 years before joining the Pentagon as deputy secretary of defense in 2017. Trump’s first Pentagon chief, James Mattis, served on the board of General Dynamics.
“Additionally, nearly half of all senior Defense Department officials are connected to military contractors,” the lawmakers wrote. “Despite President Trump’s boast that he would ‘drain the swamp’ and hire ‘only the best people,’ he has continually failed to do so.”
Michele Flournoy is said to be the frontrunner for the position of secretary of defense in the Biden administration. Flournoy has deep ties with the arms industry and currently serves on the board of the defense firm Booz Allen Hamilton.
Flournoy worked in the Pentagon under the Clinton administration and the Obama administration. In 2007, Flournoy co-founded the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a hawkish think tank that receives hefty contributions from weapons makers, major corporations, and the US government.
In 2016, Flournoy co-authored a CNAS report titled “Expanding American Power” with a group of hawks, including neoconservative Robert Kagan. The paper called for arms shipments to Ukraine, threats to Iran, increased military spending, and escalations in Syria and Iraq.
According to The New York Times, Jeh Johnson is also in the running to be Biden’s Pentagon chief. Johnson served as the secretary of homeland security from 2013 to 2017 and currently sits on the board of Lockheed Martin.
propriety must not only be done but it must be seen to be done!
Worth a shot anyway…
Best news I’ve heard ALL WEEK!
Wasn’t Lee the ONLY member of Congress to oppose the War on Iraq…
Why the F isn’t she the President?
What the H is wrong with this country??
NO. Barbara Lee was the only member of Congress to oppose the resolution of September 14, 2001, that purportedly allowed Bush Jr. to fight anyone he deemed responsible for the terrorism of September 11, 2001.
He chose to attack the Afghans (although Saudis bore vastly more responsibility). The U.S. has been fighting them ever since — even though Congress never authorized war on Afghanistan and nobody has a good reason for it.
But I agree that Barabara Lee deserves to be president.
Until the war on terror authorization is closed out, nothing will change. To his credit, Obama stated in 2015, his desire to do exactly that. Crickets.
Unfortunately, blame the pols all you want, the US is a militant populous. It’s your neighbors.
I recall when Kucinich ran, I helped when he came to speak at a local California town event. My buddy said, “nice turnout”, to which I replied…”there are more young people in class studying missile technology right now, than there are people here”…referring to the local university.
They’re engineers in training. They shouldn’t be held responsible for what corrupt pols do when the pervert science.
But I will agree, at the end on the day we’re responsible for letting them into power… God forgive America.
The locals refer to our university as Bechtel U. or General Dynamics U…..wanna meet the swamp ? Come to a jobs fair here. A social system is what it produces.
No surprise, Biden is owned by Wall St & War Party. Be prepared for worse to come.
Meet the new boss; same as the old boss . . .
Oh, what a surprise… NOT— Creepy uncle Joe? Say it aint so…. He long ago switched sides in the contest. Back in the day he was A Neil Kinnoc fan as a working guy”s crusader out to help his Irish fellow workers and us. but that is ancient history. Lately he has been more of a HRC fan, helping wage wars on the third world. He voted for the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan. But it was the Saudis that flew the planes that infamous day killing 2297 or sumsuch…. Then we bomb Saddam, the Saudis arch enemy. Go figure…
Translation: Hire our batch of friends instead…
Biden’s not even officially confirmed and already squabbling’s broken out for the spoils of patronage.
Biden has 40 years worth of people and industry he needs to pay back. Expect this to be the norm.
Where TF do they cum from….??? They seem to bubble up out of the political muck like sewer rats. All longing. to munch on our lunch. Nice that worries about what the current guy is going to do with China, Iraq Iran and Venezuela are drawing to a cloze, but it seems the new boss is waaaaay too similar to the ole 1 and he likes the Younger ones too just like the (purportedly) dear departed Jeffrey Epstain.
I thought being a tool.of the Arms industry was part of the job requirements for being a USSOD…