Entrepreneur Steve Blank Resigns From Pentagon Board After Trump Purge - Forbes

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Topline

Tech entrepreneur Steve Blank resigned from a Department of Defense advisory board Monday morning, protesting the Trump administration’s decision to oust most of his fellow board members and replace some of them with political loyalists with no defense or business experience.

Key Facts

Blank resigned from the Defense Business Board, a 16-member committee that advises the Pentagon on management issues.

His resignation came three days after nine of the committee’s members were brusquely removed from their positions, in favor of a new slate of appointees including former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and campaign advisor David Bossie.

Blank, a Stanford University professor and serial startup architect in Silicon Valley, said in a blog post Monday that the board’s mission has historically been nonpartisan.

He warned that requiring loyalty in DOD positions could undermine national security.

The Department of Defense did not immediately provide comment to Forbes.

Crucial Quote

“In exchange for ideological purity, the abrupt termination of more than half of the Defense Business Board and their replacement with political partisans has now put the nation’s safety and security at risk,” Blank wrote in his resignation letter.

Key Background

Founded in 2002, the Defense Business Board is not a particularly high-profile body. Its members, most of whom are private-sector leaders, offer advice on governance and look for ways to make the Pentagon more efficient. But Friday, most board members were suddenly dismissed from their posts via form emails, Politico reported. On the same day, acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller said those members’ positions had expired or were “terminated,” replacing them with new people like Lewandowski and Bossie, two longtime political operatives who do not have have any military experience.

Tangent

Blank’s resignation follows weeks of firings and resignations at the top levels of the Pentagon. Trump fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper less than a week after the election, and three Esper deputies (at least one of whom reportedly clashed with Trump) quickly left DOD in the following days and were replaced by Trump loyalists and former GOP staffers. Critics worry that this sudden, unexplained turnover could hamper the Pentagon in the Trump administration’s final days and harm the transition process to President-elect Joe Biden.