Pentagon adds more Trump loyalists to Defense Policy Board
“Today, the Department of Defense announced that it intends to appoint former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, Ambassador Thomas Carter, Dr. Edward Luttwak, Mr. Scott O’Grady, Mr. Thomas Stewart, the Honorable Randy Forbes, Senator Robert Smith and Ambassador Charles Glazer to the Defense Policy Board,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
O’Grady, a former fighter pilot and Trump loyalist, repeatedly retweeted tweets that falsely stated Trump had won the election in “landslide fashion” and that millions of votes had been stolen from the President.
Since making the personnel changes, the administration has announced troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia and has jettisoned much of the Pentagon’s civilian leadership, replacing officials with a slew of political loyalists in a wave of disruption as Trump’s administration winds to a close.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon said it would name Hudson Institute China policy expert Michael Pillsbury to serve as the chair of the Defense Policy Board and former National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty as a member.
Pillsbury has been a vocal proponent of Trump and vocal critic of Biden.
Gordon-Hagerty was ousted from her position at the National Nuclear Security Administration immediately after the election, one of the first high-profile post-election changes in the Trump administration.
Traditionally, the Pentagon advisory boards are nonpartisan and their membership carries over into successive presidential administrations.