Anti-Trump Clinton Supporter to Lead Pentagon Think Tank Under Mattis

Patrick Cronin from the liberal non-profit Center for New American Security (CNAS) has joined the Defense Department under Gen James Mattis to run the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, a think tank within the Pentagon.

Bill Gertz, a national security expert and columnist at the Washington Times, reports that Cronin’s appointment has “set off criticism among conservative China analysts who are concerned about” his “views and writings on China.”

As Gertz reports, Cronin was the signatory to an anti-Trump protest letter which proclaimed unity in “opposition to a Donald Trump presidency.”

Initially, a Pentagon press release said that Secretary Mattis approved the selection of Cronin, but the think tank page has been updated to claim that Mattis was not involved in the process.

To make matters worse, it appears as if Cronin has previously signed multiple anti-Trump letters.

Not only that, but Cronin took his advocacy against Trump a step further than most of his fellow anti-Trump signatories.

Cronin, a self-proclaimed Republican, voted for Hillary Clinton in the November election. While some of his Republican colleagues veered towards third-party candidates, and others decided simply not to vote in the election, Cronin took the minority route and threw his weight behind Clinton.

“Only one candidate has thought through America’s challenges, understands policy, has a positive and inclusive vision, is smart about the world in which we live, and is ready to be president, and I intend to vote for her—Hillary Clinton,” Cronin said in June.

Cronin served as a senior USAID official under President George W. Bush. Before moving into the Pentagon, he worked as a senior director at the liberal CNAS, which is funded in part by the far-left Soros family.

Though the Pentagon now insists that Secretary Mattis had nothing to do with Cronin’s appointment, he is ultimately in charge of the Defense Department. Mattis had recently attempted to bring Cronin’s former colleague from CNAS, Michele Flournoy, into the Pentagon as one of his top deputies.

The defense secretary is reportedly pushing for another leftist from the Soros-funded Center for American Progress to join him at the Pentagon.

Mattis also tried to nominate Obama loyalist Anne Patterson — a hated figure in Egypt because of her ties to the Muslim Brotherhood — to the Defense Department, before the White House rejected her nomination. (For more from the author of “Anti-Trump Clinton Supporter to Lead Pentagon Think Tank Under Mattis” please click HERE)

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