Acting defense secretary recuses himself from anything having to do with Boeing, which is a lot of things

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan at a Cabinet meeting with President Trump.

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 2 January 2019

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan won't get involved with billions of dollars of Boeing deals.

Shanahan, who until Tuesday was the department's deputy secretary, worked at the aerospace company for 31 years. He used to have a system set up preventing him from make decisions regarding Boeing, but affirmed Wednesday that he "has recused himself for the duration of his service in the DOD ... from participating in matters" involving Boeing, a spokesperson said.

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The decision also marks a change from how Shanahan interacted with Boeing when he was deputy to former Defense Secretary James Mattis in 2017 and 2018. Shanahan had a "screening arrangement" that alerted his and Mattis' staffers to Boeing-related decisions and "instruct[ed] them to refer certain matters to another official," The Seattle Times reported. Still, Shanahan apparently "prodd[ed]" the Pentagon to request $1.2 billion for Boeing fighter jets in December, Bloomberg says.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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