One of Washington’s favorite guessing games was in full swing even before the last votes were counted in Tuesday’s presidential election. Who will President-elect Trump pick to lead the Pentagon and State Department as he reshapes U.S. policy on everything from defeating the Islamic State to dealing with Russia?
“Those who know, don’t say. Those who say, don’t know,” quipped James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation. “I am in the category of those who don’t know and don’t say.”
It’s not clear that anyone knows at this point, or that Trump has even had a chance to focus on Cabinet appointments yet, less than 24 hours after his upset victory.
Trump’s senior adviser on national security during the campaign, retired Army Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, keeps being mentioned for the Pentagon post, mostly by people who are unaware of a federal statute that bars recently retired military officers from serving in what is designated as a civilian job.
Title 10 of the federal code specifies that the defense secretary must be appointed “from civilian life,” and that “A person may not be appointed as Secretary of Defense within seven years after relief from active duty as a commissioned officer of a regular component of an armed force.”
Flynn, the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, might be a good fit for director of national intelligence, CIA director or national security adviser.
Another name that has prompted speculation is Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who Trump praised effusively in his early Wednesday morning victory speech.
Trump called Sessions a “major, major politician,” who he said is “as smart as you get.”
Another name you hear is former Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo. It’s also worth noting that Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., the outgoing head of the House Armed Services seapower subcommittee, has spoken on behalf of the campaign as a military adviser.
No one seems to have a lock on the job at this point, and most of the “informed speculation” is based on who Trump appeared with and relied on during the campaign.
It therefore seems plausible that Trump, who got advice from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, might consider Gingrich for secretary of state, and former federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani as attorney general or possible head of the Department of Homeland Security.
Gingrich would also be qualified to be defense secretary, and that would clear the way for Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Corker and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton to take the top job at State.
