Remember how impeached Donald Trump went on a rampage of firing national security people a few weeks ago? It's not just those high-level firings lawmakers are worried about. It's also the gutting of civilian positions at the Pentagon, which is putting our already shaky national security under an unstable would-be autocrat in even more jeopardy.
The number of high-level vacancies at the Pentagon has reached a record, with fully one-third of all the civilian positions that are subject to Senate approval either vacant or filled by a temporary, acting official. "Out of 60 senior positions, 21 lack permanent appointees," Politico reports. "Thirteen of those positions have no nominee identified, including the slots for comptroller, space policy chief, and the head of international security affairs." Which is great. It's not like we’re dealing with a potential global pandemic to destabilize international security, or a presidential election in the U.S. that Russia is interfering with, or anything.
"These vacancies continue to challenge the department's ability to effectively respond to national security challenges and undermine civilian input into the decision-making process with political appointees largely absent," Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said at a hearing on Wednesday. A key problem is that Trump is trying to wrest control over the nominating process from the Pentagon, which has more influence than most departments in installing officials. Trump is, of course, trying to get his loyalists installed. One source with knowledge of the Pentagon told Politico that the White House office "has taken total control over staffing at DoD and anything that they perceive as disloyalty is a disqualification."
"They want to make sure that there's no hint or indication of conflicting loyalties," the source said. "It's complete and total control. […] You have to be a 110 percent Trump supporter and they want nobody else. […] The problem is they're not going to identify, nominate and confirm enough people before November." The upshot: a 35% vacancy rate for high-level Pentagon positions.