Former Boeing [BA] executive Patrick Shanahan was sworn in as the 33rd deputy secretary of defense during an informal ceremony July 19, a day after the Senate voted, 92-7, to confirm him as the Pentagon’s second-ranking official.

Sen. Jack Reid (D-R.I.), ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), endorsed Shanahan before the vote, calling him “fully qualified for the job.”

Pat Shanahan, President Donald Trump's nominee to be deputy secretary of defense. (Photo courtesy of Boeing)
Pat Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, is the new deputy secretary of defense. (Photo courtesy of Boeing)

Shanahan held a host of high-level management positions in Boeing’s defense and commercial businesses during his 30-year career at the company. Most recently, he was Boeing’s senior vice president for supply chain and operations.

“When I met Mr. Shanahan to discuss his nomination, he emphasized that the public sector needed to work closer with the private sector to get more cost-effective results while ensuring our warfighters have the best equipment at their disposal,” Reed said. “It is that kind of leadership that the Department of Defense needs as our nation faces as diverse an array of threats and challenges to our national security as at any point in our history.”

Voting “nay” on Shanahan were Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Kamela Harris (D-Calif.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Opponents of the nomination expressed concern about several matters, including Shanahan’s lack of government, policy or military experience; his need to recuse himself from decisions involving his former employer, a major Defense Department vendor; and his apparent willingness to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty if Russia continues to deploy a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile.

SASC Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is recovering from surgery, did not vote on the Senate floor. His committee approved Shanahan by voice vote in late June (Defense Daily, June 28).

Nominated by President Donald Trump, Shanahan replaces Bob Work, a holdover from the Obama administration. A formal ceremony for Shanahan will take place sometime in August, a Pentagon spokeswoman said.