Esper Confirmed as Trump’s First Pentagon Chief Since December

(Bloomberg) -- Mark Esper was confirmed by the Senate to be President Donald Trump’s new secretary of defense, ending a seven-month vacancy in the position as the U.S. navigates through key foreign policies crises with Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan.

Esper won overwhelming bipartisan support in the 90-8 vote on Tuesday. He was sworn in hours later at the White House.

Esper’s confirmation adds some stability to Trump’s national security team, which has lacked a Senate-confirmed leader at the Pentagon since Jim Mattis quit in December in response to the president’s announcement that he’d withdraw troops from Syria. Since then there have been two acting secretaries: Patrick Shanahan, who withdrew from consideration for the permanent job, and Navy Secretary Richard Spencer.

A 55-year-old West Point graduate, Esper was previously secretary of the Army and is a former top lobbyist for defense contractor Raytheon Co. He had been serving as acting Pentagon chief following Shanahan’s departure.

The administration still lacks a confirmed ambassador to the United Nations and the Senate is considering the nominations to replace the current head and deputy head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the president’s top military advisers.

Iran, China

Esper steps into the top Pentagon job with a long list of crises on his plate. Tensions with Iran are soaring following a spate of attacks on cargo ships, the downing of an American drone and Tehran’s seizure of a British oil tanker. Turkey has begun receiving components of a Russian missile defense system that has prompted the U.S. to expel the NATO ally from the F-35 fighter jet program.

He will also be steering U.S. defense strategy as it shifts to confront China and Russia as the department’s main challenges. China, with the world’s second-largest economy, is making major investments in military capabilities to challenge America’s dominance in the Asia-Pacific while Russia is expanding its influence in the Middle East.

Esper will have to manage “an increasingly aggressive and successful Russia, increasing animus with China” and tensions among NATO members, particularly Turkey, said Paul Sullivan, an international security expert at the National Defense University. Esper will also be pressured to manage the department’s relationship with Trump, who “is hard on his staff,” Sullivan said. “It is difficult to judge how well this will go” but Esper needs to “carve out his own space very soon,” he added.

Esper’s Challenge

The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee this month said that it was a matter of urgency to get Esper’s nomination through.

Some Democrats expressed concern about whether Esper would stand up to the president. Saying that Trump’s “temperament and management skills are challenging,” Democratic Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island said Esper would need to be “willing and able to provide the president with your best policy advice even if the president disagrees.”

Among the Democratic senators voting against Esper’s confirmation were presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten Gillibrand.

Warren voiced opposition to Esper’s nomination after he declined to recuse himself, without exception, from all potential decisions involving Raytheon, the No. 3 defense contractor. United Technologies Corp. has agreed to buy Raytheon, forming an aerospace and defense giant with $74 billion in sales in one of the industry’s biggest transactions ever. Warren told Esper that his refusal to recuse himself in all circumstances “smacks of corruption.”

“Secretary Esper has real conflicts of interest with Raytheon that he is unwilling to remedy by taking simple, reasonable steps,” she said July 16 opposing his nomination. “Until he is willing to make these commitments, he should not be confirmed as the Secretary of Defense, and I oppose his nomination.”

Esper will receive $1 million to $5 million in deferred compensation from Raytheon starting in 2022, reflecting the broad ranges that officials must disclose for the value of their assets, according to his financial disclosure statement.

Esper and his team have repeatedly said he will follow his signed ethics agreement, all applicable laws and the president’s Ethics Pledge. He’s said any Raytheon issues will be screened before coming to his desk and will be referred whenever possible to another official. In a July 19 letter to Warren, he added that he’s agreed to recuse himself from issues involving the Raytheon-United Technologies merger “even if the law would allow me to participate in discussions or decisions” about the transaction.

Trump didn’t formally nominate Esper until the eve of last week’s hearing because a federal law required the nominee to step down from his position as acting secretary. That role was filled by Spencer, who is now expected to serve temporarily as the acting deputy secretary of defense. Trump on Tuesday said he’s nominating David Norquist for that post.

--With assistance from Travis Tritten, Josh Wingrove and Laura Litvan.

To contact the reporters on this story: Glen Carey in Washington at gcarey8@bloomberg.net;Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert

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