Donald Trump includes 3rd General in his cabinet
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WASHINGTON: (APP) US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated retired four-star Marine General John F Kelly for the important post of Homeland Security, the third military man to make it to the next administration, subject to the Senate approval.
Gen Kelly is a seasoned command commander and father of an American soldier, who was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2010.
According to media reports, Kelly has been offered the job formally as he was out of the country this week.
When he lost his son, Lt Robert Michael Kelly, killed after stepping on a mine while leading a platoon in Afghanistan, he became the highest-ranking military officer to lose a son or daughter in Iraq or Afghanistan. That has played a role in his selection, according to people close to the Trump transition team, as the President-elect wants people on his security team who understood personally the pangs of sending Americans into combat.
Trump has expressed his desire to reduce America's involvement in foreign wars which did not threaten the country's interest.
A report in online magazine Politico observed that the choice of Kelly, a bereaved father, could also help the rift from Trump's clash during the election campaign with Pakistan-American parents of a US soldier, who was killed in Iraq in 2005. The couple sided with Trump's rival Hillary Clinton.
Kelly had issues with the Obama administration over women in combat and had also opposed plans to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, a Washington Post report said citing people familiar with the decision.
A widely respected military officer who served for more than 40 years, Kelly is not expected to face any difficulty winning the Senate approval to his nomination. The two other retired generals, already nominated are retired Marine General James N Mattis for defence secretary and retired army Lt Gen Michael T Flynn as national security adviser.
