Pentagon fires its point person for Defense Production Act

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/14/coronavirus-defense-production-act-ouster-258578

One reason for her ouster may have been due to challenges leveraging the Defense Production Act.

By LARA SELIGMAN and DANIEL LIPPMAN

05/14/2020 12:37 PM EDT

Jennifer Santos, the Pentagon’s industrial policy chief who oversees efforts to ramp up production of masks and other equipment to help fight Covid-19, was fired from her job this week and will move to a position in the Navy, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Santos took over the job of deputy assistant secretary of Defense for industrial policy in June 2019 after her predecessor, Eric Chewning, was tapped to serve as chief of staff to then-acting Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan. Since March, Santos has focused on using the Defense Production Act to partner with industry to bolster the nation’s supply of critical medical equipment such as ventilators, personal protective gear and testing materials needed to counter the coronavirus pandemic.

After this story was published, Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Mike Andrews confirmed that Santos is moving to a position in the Navy working for James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition. Scott Baum, who is DoD's principal director of industrial policy, will take over Santos' position on an acting basis, Andrews said.

"The department’s commitment to closely partnering with the defense industry remains unwavering, and we will continue to identify and mitigate impacts from the COVID-19 national emergency to ensure readiness and modernization," Andrews said.

Santos announced tearfully during a Thursday morning staff call that she had been fired and would leave her post at 5 p.m. on Friday, according to one person close to the Pentagon. Santos, when reached by phone, did not have a comment. It’s not yet clear why she was let go.

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Watch this space...

[Iliyah]

1. And during a Pandemic . .

this is the most fucked up administration.

Republican senate instead of trying to help with the pandemic's response and at least the aid package, they are running around falsifying "fake" bullshit. They do not care about The United State of America nor her people.

[dlk]

2. Did she interfere with Jared's pandemic profiteering?

It’s all about increasing the Trump organization’s income and profits. Nothing else matters to them.

[Mike 03]

3. A pattern I'm noticing. They rarely fire people outright; they demote them

and shuffle them to some lower level job. Is this to keep them under their thumb so they don't immediately do an interview with the Washington Post or NYT? Trying to keep their mouths shut?

[Zoonart]

4. So they can't be forced to testify.

[SeattleVet]

5. If they are federal employees and not political appointees...

they can only be fired 'for cause', which requires strong documentation and, if it isn't a blatant case, can drag on for a while.

By reassigning them the administration doesn't have to say anything more than it was for the 'mission requirement', or 'convenience of the government' and they can get away with a lot.