A pair of progressive democratic lawmakers are calling on presumptive President-elect Joe Biden to pledge not to appoint any person who has prior ties to defense contractors to be his Secretary of Defense.
It is widely expected that Mr. Biden will appoint Michele Flourny to the top civilian post at the Pentagon. Ms. Flournoy currently serves on the board of Washington contracting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.
“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,” wrote Democratic Reps. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin and Barbara Lee of California. Mr. Pocan serves as co-chair of the House Democratic Caucus and Ms. Lee is a chair emeritus.
They argued that appointing a person with such a background often leads to profiting from their government position.
In their letter to Mr. Biden, dated Tuesday but published Thursday, the lawmakers pointed to the appointments of former Defense Secretaries Gen. James Mattis, who had served on the board of General Dynamics, and Mark Esper, who worked as a lobbyist for weapons manufacturer Raytheon, prior to their appointments. Mr. Trump fired Mr. Esper from his post on Monday.
They also highlighted the nomination of Patrick Shanahan, a 30-year executive at Boeing, for Defense Secretary. Mr. Shanahan withdrew his name from consideration amid a tumultuous nomination process.
“We strongly encourage you to reject the mistaken nominations of the Trump era; and, again, commit to appointing Secretaries of Defense with no prior ties to defense contractors,” the lawmakers wrote.
“One way we can quickly distance the nation from the stain of [Mr. Trump’s] tenure is to immediately remove the profiteering ethos Donald Trump fostered throughout government.”
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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