In a Male-Dominated Administration, Pentagon Chief Seeks More Women

The Pentagon is still a largely male-dominated place, and Patrick Shanahan, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, is pushing hard to change that by filling top posts with female candidates, his chief of staff said.

But some critics are skeptical. “The Trump administration has created the most male-dominant administration since Reagan,” said Loren DeJonge Schulman, a former Pentagon official who now researches national security and defense reform at the Center for a New American Security. “The Defense Department is among the worst, if not the worst, in establishing women as leaders at all levels of the Department, civilian and military.”

Women have climbed the ranks of the U.S. national security world in recent years. Director Gina Haspel occupies the top post at the CIA. Of America’s five largest defense contractors, three are now led by women: Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin, Phebe Novakovic of General Dynamics, and Kathy Warden of Northrop Grumman. Meanwhile, Leanne Caret is the CEO of Boeing’s defense business.

Read the full article and more in Foreign Policy.