By: Valerie Insinna
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for the next defense secretary on Thursday characterized his boss as ultimately supportive of the F-35 program, despite recent comments by Trump criticizing the high costs of the program.
Over the past month, Trump has repeatedly used Twitter as his platform of choice to trash the “out-of-control” costs of the F-35. The president-elect has also put the Air Force One program in his crosshairs, tweeting that the program should be canceled.
During a confirmation hearing in front of the Senate armed services committee, retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis said Trump has "in no way shown a lack of support for the program. He just wants more bang for the buck.”
Mattis mostly brushed aside criticism about Trump’s use of Twitter, saying that the president-elect’s comments indicate the high priority placed on driving down the price of weapon systems.
“It’s not my role to comment on the president-elect’s statements except to say that it shows he’s serious about getting the best bang for the dollar when it comes to defense dollars, and that is where I find common ground with him,” Mattis said in response to a question on how he would deal with industry concerns about Trump’s tweets.
“I want to be able to come to you and say, ‘Here is the money you gave to us, and here’s what we did with it,’” he added. “And I see his statements about the cost of certain defense programs as showing his serious side about keeping these costs under control.”
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