Patrick Shanahan, the Pentagon’s No. 2 civilian, has set up an alert system to insulate himself from decisions affecting Boeing Co., where he rose to senior vice president during a 30-year career.
The new deputy defense secretary has signed a "screening arrangement" that will notify Defense Secretary James Mattis and Shanahan’s staff to issues involving Boeing -- the No. 2 U.S. defense contractor -- and “instructs them to refer certain matters to another official” for decisions, Navy Commander Sarah Higgins, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in a statement.
