The key criteria for those in the top-tier positions appear to be loyalty, wealth, and ideological fervor, not competence.

(Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool) He previously served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Defense Continuity and Mission Assurance and as the deputy assistant secretary ...

Robert Salesses, deputy director of the Pentagon’s Washington Headquarters Service, will fill in as acting secretary of defense, and three other career Defense Department civilians will be ...

Salesses has also served in roles including assistant secretary of Defense for homeland defense and global security and deputy assistant secretary of Defense for defense continuity and mission ...

The Pentagon inspector general found in its review of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's hospitalization last year that it "increased unnecessarily" the risks to national security, even if ...

Neither Austin’s chief of staff nor Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks knew of his cancer diagnosis or the procedure he underwent in December 2023. In fact, OIG notes that "nearly all of ...

Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Shawn G. Skelly stressed equitable military hiring practices as crucial to national security at a Jan. 13 event. Rebecca D. Patterson, the ...

The DoD OIG initiated this review on January 10, 2024, with two stated objectives. First, the review examined the processes, procedures, and actions related to the transfer of functions and duties ...