An investigation by the Pentagon’s inspector general has cleared acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan of allegations that he attempted to exert undue influence on behalf of his former employer, Boeing.
The ethics probe began after a watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, sent a letter to the inspector general pointing to media reports that Shanahan was “boosting” Boeing in Pentagon meetings. The group questioned whether Shanahan harbored an unfair bias against other big military contractors.
The inspector general’s report exonerated Shanahan, saying none of the allegations was substantiated.
“We determined that Mr. Shanahan fully complied with his ethics agreements and his ethical obligations regarding Boeing and its competitors,” the report stated. “We determined that Mr. Shanahan did not make the alleged comments and did not promote Boeing, or disparage its competitors.”
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The findings are expected to clear the way for Shanahan’s nomination to replace James Mattis as defense secretary.
President Trump has highly praised Shanahan but has not indicated publicly whether he intends to nominate him for the Pentagon’s top job.
The allegations of bias first surfaced in a January Politico article, which reported that in private high-level Pentagon meetings, Shanahan heavily criticized Lockheed Martin’s production of the F-35 fighter jet.
[Also read: Shanahan revival? ‘In shape now’ to win defense secretary post]
According to a former senior Defense Department official who was present, Shanahan in one meeting called the F-35 “fucked up” and argued that Lockheed — which edged out Boeing in the competition to build the plane in October 2001 — “doesn’t know how to run a program.”
In clearing Shanahan of any violation of his ethics agreement to recuse himself from decisions affecting Boeing, the investigators determined that Shanahan’s comments about Boeing’s competitors “were directed at holding contractors accountable and saving the Government money, consistent with his duties as the Deputy Secretary of Defense, rather than to disparage particular companies and individuals, or to promote Boeing.”
The report concluded that Shanahan did not “repeatedly dump” on the F-35 aircraft in meetings.
“Rather, we determined that Mr. Shanahan’s comments related to the F-35 program and its performance, and were consistent with other comments about problems in the F-35 program made by other senior DoD officials,” the report said.
