Pentagon Tells WH to Stop Politicizing Military

By Staff, Agencies

The Pentagon told the White House to stop politicizing the military, amid a furor over a Trump administration order to have the Navy ship named for the late US Sen. John McCain hidden from view during US President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Japan.

A US military official said Patrick Shanahan, Trump’s acting war chief, is also considering sending out formal guidance to military units in order to avoid similar problems in the future.

Shanahan confirmed details about a Navy email that said the White House military office wanted the USS John McCain kept “out of sight” when Trump was in Japan about a week ago. The internal Navy email came to light last week, triggering a storm of outrage.

Trump, who long feuded with McCain, has said he knew nothing about the request, but added that “somebody did it because they thought I didn’t like him, OK? And they were well-meaning, I will say.”

Shanahan told reporters traveling with him to South Korea on Sunday that he is not planning to seek an investigation by the Pentagon’s internal watchdog into the matter “because there was nothing carried out” by the Navy. He added that he still needs to gather more information about exactly what happened and what service members did.

“How did the people receiving the information — how did they treat it,” Shanahan said. “That would give me an understanding on the next steps” to take.

Shanahan did not detail what those steps could be, but a defense official said Shanahan is considering a clearer directive to the military about avoiding political situations. The goal would be to ensure there is less ambiguity about how the military should support VIP events and how service members should respond to such political requests, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.