Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo traveled to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday to very publicly confer with the generals at Central Command who would lead any military action in the gulf. It was unusual for a secretary of State to make such a consultation without a senior Defense official present. (About an hour after Pompeo’s appearance, the acting secretary of Defense, Patrick Shanahan, abruptly dropped out of consideration for the permanent job.)

Source: Los Angeles Times June 18, 2019 22:52 UTC