President Trump’s expected Army secretary nominee joins a growing list of defense industry executives nominated for top Pentagon positions, and could face conflicts of interest due to his background with a top defense contractor and the role he would play in steering major Pentagon contracts if confirmed.
The White House is expected to nominate Mark Esper, vice president of government relations at Raytheon, as secretary of the Army this week, two sources told the Washington Examiner.
A source close to the White House noted Esper’s nomination could create a “very interesting” situation given that his position would require him to sit on the Defense Acquisition Board, an advisory panel within the Pentagon that collectively decides what systems to purchase.
“Obviously, he’s going to have to recuse himself” from decisions that could involve Raytheon, the source said, which would pass responsibility for those decisions on to his undersecretary.
But Trump’s Army undersecretary nominee will also have to recuse himself from decisions that could involve his former employer, which is also a top defense contractor.
Ryan McCarthy, Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of the Army, previously served as an executive at Lockheed Martin, where he helped oversee the F-35 program.
McCarthy has already testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation.
If confirmed, Esper would join several other former industry leaders at the highest levels of the Pentagon. Former Boeing executive Pat Shanahan was confirmed Tuesday to be deputy defense secretary, and Ellen Lord, CEO of Textron Systems, has been nominated to be the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer.
Those backgrounds could create problems on the Senate Armed Services Committee, the first stop for nominees in their confirmation process.
“His background also concerns me … we need reform in the Pentagon. All of [the nominees] concern me if they’re from the big five” defense contractors, McCain said after Shanahan’s June 20 hearing.
During the hearing, McCain made clear he is wary of industry leaders taking over top Pentagon posts.
“I am concerned that 90 percent of defense spending is in the hands of five corporations of which you represent one,” he told Shanahan. “I have to have confidence that the fox is not going to be put back into the hen house.
“Your job is one of the most important and key elements and frankly I’m not overjoyed that you came from one of [those] corporations,” McCain said. “That’s not what our founding fathers had in mind. I want to give the secretary of defense the team he needs, but I am not going to give him a team that I think is business as usual over the last eight years.”
A source noted that the White House would prefer to move quickly with Esper’s nomination because service secretaries are typically nominated and confirmed before their undersecretaries.
However, two previous nominees for the position have already bowed out of the process, making Esper the third person chosen for the job.
