US President Donald Trump replaced the head of the Pentagon. Instead of James Mattis, former Deputy Minister Patrick Shanahan has become Minister of Defense. Officially, he will take office on January 1 of the coming year.
Trump speaks with great enthusiasm about the strategic and organizational talents of the new minister. “Patrick has a long list of achievements during the period of work of the Deputy Minister, and in Boeing before that. It will be great!”, - the US President wrote on his Twitter page.
Recall that since mid-2017, Patrick Shanahan was responsible at the Pentagon for increasing the number of military personnel in the US military and for the supply of military equipment. Prior to that, he served as vice president at Boeing. There he, in particular, oversaw the development of missile defense systems, the design of convertible planes V-22 Osprey, the modernization of helicopters CH-47 Chinook and AH-64D Apache.
James Mattis resigns at his own will. However, experts believe that his dismissal is a protest against the withdrawal of US troops from Syria.
