White House holding up DoD nomination amid Trump loyalty purge
The White House is holding up the nomination for one of the Pentagon’s top intelligence jobs because the official is not considered sufficiently loyal to the president, according to three current and former administration officials.
Kathryn Wheelbarger, who has been serving as acting assistant secretary of Defense for international security affairs since November 2018, would become the deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence if the nomination moves forward. But the holdup comes as President Donald Trump continues a post-impeachment loyalty purge that has already felled two senior Pentagon officials in recent weeks.
The post that Wheelbarger would fill is one of 21 senior positions at the Pentagon that are empty or filled on a temporary basis, a record high for the Trump administration. Lawmakers have raised concerns in recent weeks that the department doesn't have enough qualified people in place to tackle the nation's biggest national security problems as it faces a host of crises, from the spread of the coronavirus to a new spike in tensions with Iran.
The White House announced its intent to nominate Wheelbarger for the No. 2 position at the Pentagon overseeing military intelligence on Feb. 13, but it has not yet submitted her paperwork to the Senate, a spokesperson for the Senate Armed Services Committee confirmed.
By contrast, William Gillis, who the president announced would be nominated for assistant secretary of Defense for sustainment on the same day, had his confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
Wheelbarger, through a Pentagon spokesperson, referred comment to the White House, which declined to comment.
In her current acting role, Wheelbarger has been the Pentagon’s point person on a host of issues, from the conflict in Syria to relations with NATO. On Tuesday, she testified alongside U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Frank McKenzie and U.S. Africa Command head Gen. Stephen Townsend on the U.S. peace agreement with Afghanistan, terrorist threats in West Africa and more.
In particular, Wheelbarger has been “instrumental and a driving force behind the president’s efforts to seek 2 percent defense funding from NATO allies,” one administration official told POLITICO. “She hammered that message repeatedly.”
But the White House is not satisfied that Wheelbarger is sufficiently loyal to the administration, the three current and former officials said. The people pointed to Wheelbarger’s two years spent working for the late Sen. John McCain, who feuded publicly with Trump before his death in 2019, as the root of the current tension.
But the administration official said the White House is wrong about Wheelbarger, noting that she has worked for Trump for 50 percent longer than she did for McCain.
Wheelbarger also declined to testify before Congress during the impeachment inquiry, the official said, explaining that she and her lawyer convinced congressional staff that she would not be able to provide additional information for the case.
This is not the first time the White House has intervened on Pentagon personnel issues. The Trump administration demanded the ouster of John Rood, then-undersecretary of Defense for policy, in February, and has since rejected several of Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s choices to replace him.
The White House personnel office, which is led by Trump loyalist John McEntee, put forth its own candidate to replace Rood: Elbridge Colby, who served as a deputy assistant secretary of Defense and is one of the primary authors of the National Defense Strategy.
The White House also recently withdrew the nomination of Elaine McCusker to be Pentagon comptroller after emails emerged showing her questioning the administration’s suspension of military aid to Ukraine, an issue at the heart of the impeachment.
“Unless you are here to support him personally, he’d rather have gaps,” said one former administration official.
