Will the new U.S. Defense Secretary be good for Israel?

In just four days Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan will take over as acting US Secretary of Defense, and for Israel which is fighting Iranian entrenchment in a country where the US is withdrawing troops, it is imperative to have a man who knows the region as top defense official.

While Boeing executives in Israel have not worked with him, he has met with Israel’s Defense Minister Director General Udi Adam at the Pentagon in Washington last December. The content of the meeting has not been made public but it came around the time that a cancelled test for Israel’s Arrow missile defense system was supposed to have occurred in Alaska.

For tech-hungry Israel, a Boeing executive with over three decades of experience in commercial airliner programs as well as president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems and of Boeing Rotorcraft Systems, is not a bad option.

But, unlike his predecessor General James Mattis, he has no military background and has little foreign policy experience, which for the Middle East, might be a game-changer.

During his 2017 Senate confirmation hearing Shanahan said that technology, not strategy, was his strongpoint, Daily Beast reported.

“I believe my skill set strongly complements that of Secretary Mattis,” he was quoted as saying. “He is a master strategist with deep military and foreign policy experience. As deputy secretary of defense and Secretary Mattis’ chief operating officer, I bring strong execution skills with background in technology development and business management.”

Mattis, on the other hand, enlisted in the military in 1969 and is a Marine veteran of the Persian Gulf War where he served as Lt.Col, in the war in Afghanistan as a Colonel, until his promotion to brigadier general, and as a four-star general during the 2003 Iraq War where he played a major role in the battle for Fallujah . He finished his military career as the head of Central Command, which directs US military operations across the Middle East and Central Asia.

After resigning following Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria, Mattis said he would stay on the job until the end of February to ensure a smooth transition.

But, according to multiple reports, Mattis and Trump had a contentious relationship and Mattis will now only stay on until January 1rst when Shanahan-who has a strong relationship with the president and Vice President Mike Pence- will take over.

“I am pleased to announce that our very talented Deputy Secretary of Defense, Patrick Shanahan, will assume the title of Acting Secretary of Defense starting January 1, 2019,” US President Donald Trump tweeted last Sunday. “Patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as Deputy, previously Boeing. He will be great!”

If approved by Senate, Shanahan will be in charge of Trump’s decision to withdraw some 2,000 US forces from Syria and cut half of the 14,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Experts have warned that the withdrawal of troops from the region would put Israel at risk,with one unnamed senior diplomatic official quoted by Channel 10 as saying that “Trump threw us under the wheels of the semi-truck of the Russian army, the one that transfers weapons to Syria and Hezbollah

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot has also admitted that while it would not affect the IDF’s ability to act against Iran and Hezbollah, it is a “significant” move.

“For decades, we have dealt with this front alone. That’s also how it has been over the past four years, during the American and Russian presence [in Syria]. We have been acting in support of Israel’s security interests,” he said last week.

Shanahan will have to contend with this threat, and smooth over the concerns of many allies in the region, especially Israel.

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