January 1st of this year. President trump has now nominated the current secretary of the Army Mark Esper to be secretary of defense. Heres reaction to the news from Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell and minority leader chuck schumer. Well, first, i think its very clear that the administration is certainly not trying to start a war with iran. But weve learned over the years that iran behavior is not best dealt with by turning the other cheek. And so i think what the administration is prepared to do is engage in measured response against striking out that they are doing once again either directly or through surrogates. Its important to remember that the iuds they manufacture killed and maimed an awful lot of americans in iraq and afghanistan. Their mischief has been on full display off and on for 30 years. I think the administrations handling it connectly. But is there concern not having a secretary of defense now . I do think were better to have a confirmed secretary of defense. I might say with regard to mark esper we all know him. I think thats a good choice for acting. I do think wed be better off by far to have a secretary of defense whos actually confirmed by the senate. At this sensitive time how worried do americans need to be theres no secretary of defense and no nominee . Well, let me say first this is a very difficult time with everything going on in iran and all the provocations and counter actions. And to have no secretary of defense at this time is appalling. And it shows the chaos in this administration. They have so many empty positions, rotating, resolving doors in the most sensitive of security positions. Every american should worry, we should always worry about any kind of running into war or so many troops put somewhere. But now more than ever now more than ever it also shows we need vetting. They dont like to vet. All these assistant secretaries, assistant this, assistant that dont get vetted. And look what happens when you dont vet. Thats why theyve had so many other people withdraw. This idea when democrats want some time to review the records of people, well, the shanahan case shows how necessary that is. As news broke tat the confirmation of acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan would not go forward secretary of at