As term winds down, Trump shifts Pentagon line of succession (defensenews.com)
As term winds down, Trump shifts Pentagon line of succession
By:
Aaron Mehta December 11, 2020
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Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, left, meets with Navy Capt. Christopher Gilbertson, the commander of Task Force 55, during a visit to Naval Support Activity in Bahrain on Nov. 25, 2020. (Lisa Ferdinando/U.S. Defense Department)
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order Thursday changing the line of succession at the Pentagon, clarifying who would take charge of the Defense Department in case of an emergency.
The move is in line with actions taken by previous presidents, who have in the past moved roles up and down the line of succession depending on the individual filling the job.
The order of succession lays out who takes over when a defense secretary is
removed or resigns. It is not representative of the chain of command, but does reflect who the president would prefer to take over in case of a departmental emergency that results in the loss of the top of the command structure.
The switch comes amid a broader series of changes at the Pentagon — including alterations at the
Defense Business Board and the
Defense Policy Board — that the incoming Biden transition team may look to quickly revert once it takes office.
The
new order is as follows:
- Deputy defense secretary
- Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force, in order of appointment
- Undersecretary of defense for policy
- Undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security
- Chief management officer
- Undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment
- Undersecretary of defense for research and engineering
- Undersecretary of defense (comptroller)
- Undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness
- Deputy undersecretary of defense for policy
- Deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security
- Deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment
- Deputy undersecretary of defense for research and engineering
- Deputy undersecretary of defense (comptroller)
- Deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness
- A group consisting of the general counsel of the Defense Department, assistant secretaries of defense, director of cost assessment and program evaluation, director of operational test and evaluation, and chief information officer of the Defense Department, in order of appointment
- Undersecretaries of the military departments, in order of appointment
- Assistant secretaries of the military departments and general counsels of the military departments, in order of appointment.
The executive order replaces a similar executive order issued by
President Barack Obama in March 2010, which in turn replaced one signed
by President George W. Bush in December 2005, which in turn replaced one from
President Bill Clinton in April 1996.
“This is something every administration in modern times undertakes, but the world would not have stopped rotating had POTUS forgotten to change this on his way out the door,” said Mackenzie Eaglen of the American Enterprise Institute. “The more interesting question to me is why Obama did it so soon after taking office, and Trump at the very last minute.”
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