Insider

Your all-access pass to FP

Does Anyone Want to Be Secretary of Defense?

White House struggles to fill the top Pentagon job.

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to visit with families of fallen soldiers as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center, and acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, right, follow at Dover Air Force base in Delaware on Jan. 19.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to visit with families of fallen soldiers as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center, and acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, right, follow at Dover Air Force base in Delaware on Jan. 19.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to visit with families of fallen soldiers as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center, and acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, right, follow at Dover Air Force base in Delaware on Jan. 19. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

The search for a permanent replacement for former U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis—a candidate who will satisfy both the president and the Senate—is not going well.

Lara Seligman is a staff writer at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @laraseligman

More from Foreign Policy

An illustration shows the Statue of Liberty holding a torch with other hands alongside hers as she lifts the flame, also resembling laurel, into place on the edge of the United Nations laurel logo.
An illustration shows the Statue of Liberty holding a torch with other hands alongside hers as she lifts the flame, also resembling laurel, into place on the edge of the United Nations laurel logo.

A New Multilateralism

How the United States can rejuvenate the global institutions it created.

A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.
A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.

America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want

Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, seen in a suit and tie and in profile, walks outside the venue at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Behind him is a sculptural tree in a larger planter that appears to be leaning away from him.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, seen in a suit and tie and in profile, walks outside the venue at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Behind him is a sculptural tree in a larger planter that appears to be leaning away from him.

The Endless Frustration of Chinese Diplomacy

Beijing’s representatives are always scared they could be the next to vanish.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomes Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman during an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on June 22, 2022.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomes Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman during an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on June 22, 2022.

The End of America’s Middle East

The region’s four major countries have all forfeited Washington’s trust.