Pentagon's No. 2 Watches The Money — And The Future
Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan views a rising China and proliferating military high tech as key challenges to the long-term security of the United States.
Patrick Shanahan is sitting in his sparse Pentagon office. The only picture is a framed portrait of his father, a Vietnam War veteran who was awarded a Bronze Star. Now it's up to his son — the No. 2 defense official — to juggle both current and future wars.
And that means he works six or seven days a week. Both Shanahan and his boss, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, come from Washington state and have a good-natured rivalry about who gets to work the earliest, often before the sun rises.
As the deputy to Mattis, Shanahan is charged with making the military more "lethal," keeping an eye on emerging threats and assuring the money is spent wisely.
Shanahan is essentially the chief operating officer for the Pentagon. He
