Trump's New Acting Defense Secretary Raises Conflicts of Interest Concerns - Newsweek

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan would withdraw his nomination for the Pentagon's top job and be replaced by Mark Esper, who has been Secretary of the U.S. army since November 2017. President Trump tweeted on Tuesday that he "knows Mark" and has "no doubt that he will do a fantastic job." ....
https://www.newsweek.com/who-mark-esper-trump-defense-conflicts-1444664

Internal memo orders military to restrict information it shares with Congress -- The Washington Post

Acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan has mandated new restrictions on the way the Pentagon shares information with Congress about military operations around the world, a move that is straining ties with key Republican and Democratic lawmakers.....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/lawmakers-bristle-at-new-rules-for-sharing-pentagon-information-with-congress/2019/05/21/79315df9-d792-41df-a42e-10df9af7306e_story.html

Lawmakers slam Trump's pick for defense secretary over new oversight policy - CNN Politics:

The senior Democrat and Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee criticized acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan over a new policy which they say seeks to limit congressional oversight of the Pentagon.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/22/politics/shanahan-pentagon-oversight/index.html

The real US defense budget is even bigger than you think — here's a dollar-by-dollar tour of the national security state - Business Insider

President Donald Trump with acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan at the White House, April 3, 2019. The Trump administration's most recent budget includes $750 billion for the Pentagon. That near-record sum is only part of the US national-security spending, the total of which is much higher, according to William D. Hartung and Mandy Smithberger...
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176561/

Trump's swampy Pentagon pick oversaw weapons boondoggles forcing the military to buy weapons it didn't want - Raw Story

President Donald Trump's new pick for the Secretary of Defense joins a chorus of swamp-dwellers that have been appointed to the cabinet. A report by the Daily Beast ripped new appointee Patrick Shanahan for his controversial history demanding the military purchase weapons that they didn't need nor did they want. ....
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/12/trumps-swampy-pentagon-pick-oversaw-weapons-boondoggles-forcing-military-buy-weapons-didnt-want/