Six senior Pentagon officials have reportedly been asked to stay in their posts through the Trump administration’s initial weeks to ensure the U.S. military can react instantly in the case of a crisis.
Keeping these key personnel in place will ensure there are senior officials at all times authorized to carry out key functions in the event of an emergency, a Pentagon official told CNN.
The officials are being asked to stay until appointees can be confirmed by the Senate and take office, which could take as long as three months.
{mosads}Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work was asked to continue in his role by Defense Secretary-nominee, Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, CNN reported. Work would step in as acting Secretary of Defense if a crisis occurred before Mattis is confirmed.
Other officials reportedly being asked to stay on include Robert Speer, assistant secretary of the Army for financial management and comptroller, as acting secretary of the Army; Sean Stackley, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition as acting secretary of the Navy; Lisa Disbrow, under secretary of the Air Force as acting secretary; and Robert Scher, assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans and capabilities, who’s been asked to stay on to work on special projects.