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

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.

The Wednesday announcement means a big chunk of defense decisions will bypass the man heading the department. The department doled out $13.7 billion to Boeing in September 2018 alone, and issued billions more in contracts throughout 2018, CNBC points out.

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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.

Shanahan replaced Mattis after his resignation in late December. Mattis originally planned to leave in late February, but Trump sped up his departure and announced that Shanahan would take over at the end of 2018.