secretary of defense patrick shanahan will assume the title of acting secretary of defense starting january 1. patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as deputy and previously boeing. he will be great. patrick shanahan was confirmed as acting secretary of defense in july of 2017. he is a long time decades long former boeing executive and son of vietnam veteran mike shanahan who served in the army. critics of president trump s decision to pull out of syria say isis hasn t yet been defeated and lawmakers are urging the president not to repeat the mistakes of his predecessors who most recently pulled all u.s. troops from iraq in 2011. they say that created space for isis to grow in the middle east. brian: thanks, gillian. 16 hours ago the president tweeted i just talked to erdogan again the president of turkey i told him basically this is yours. erdogan was a little panicked don t pull out so quick. they are looking to fill in