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Pentagon in its Longest-ever Stretch of Leadership Limbo

Associated Press

   WASHINGTON - When he resigned as defense secretary last December, Jim
   Mattis thought it might take two months to install a successor. That
   seemed terribly long at the time.

   Seven months later, the U.S. still has no confirmed defense chief even
   with the nation facing potential armed conflict with Iran. That's the
   longest such stretch in Pentagon history.

   There is also no confirmed deputy defense secretary, and other
   significant senior civilian and military Pentagon positions are in
   limbo, more than at any recent time.

   The causes are varied, but this leadership vacuum has nonetheless begun
   to make members of Congress and others uneasy, creating a sense that
   something is amiss in a critical arm of the government at a time of
   global uncertainty.

   William Cohen, a former Republican senator who served as defense
   secretary during President Bill Clinton's second term, says U.S. allies
   -- "and even our foes" -- expect more stability than this within the
   U.S. defense establishment.

   "It is needlessly disruptive to have a leadership vacuum for so long at
   the Department of Defense as the department prepares for its third
   acting secretary in less than a year," Cohen told The Associated Press.
   He said he worries about the cumulative effect of moving from one
   acting secretary to another while other key positions lack permanent
   officials.

   "There will inevitably be increasing uncertainty regarding which
   officials have which authority, which undermines the very principle of
   civilian control of the military," Cohen said. "In addition, other
   countries -- both allies and adversaries -- will have considerable
   doubt about the authority granted to an acting secretary of defense
   both because of the uncertainty of confirmation as well as the worry
   that even being a confirmed official does not seem to come with the
   needed sense of permanence or job security in this administration."

   Key members of Congress are concerned, too.

   "We need Senate-confirmed leadership at the Pentagon, and quickly,"
   Sen. Jim Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican who heads the Armed Services
   Committee, said Thursday. The panel's ranking Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed
   of Rhode Island, said the vacancy problem has created "disarray" in the
   government's largest bureaucracy.

   It started with Mattis, who quit in December after a series of policy
   disputes with President Donald Trump that culminated in his protest of
   administration plans to pull troops out of Syria as they battled
   remnants of the Islamic State.

   At least outwardly, the Pentagon has managed to stay on track during
   this churn, and senior officials caution against concluding that the
   military has been harmed.