While the number of vacancies isn’t new — one-third of the Defense Department’s 60 Senate-confirmed positions are filled on a temporary basis — the White House in recent months has been sending over people to fill open spots, as opposed to the more traditional method of tapping people within the Pentagon.
The White House on Monday announced that it was assigning Michael Kratsios, a 33-year-old White House chief technology officer, as the head of research and engineering for the entire DoD. Kratsios, who has a bachelor’s degree in political science, is replacing Michael Griffin, a former NASA administrator with a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering…
Lindsay Cohn, an associate professor at the Naval War College specializing in civil-military relations, who spoke in a personal capacity, expressed concern that “the criterion that seems to be getting these particular young, inexperienced people in is personal loyalty to the president.”
“This can actually undermine the entire idea of a meritocratic democracy because it creates power with connection with the patron as opposed to power within the structure of the system,” she said.
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