Trump taps Ukraine skeptic for senior Pentagon role

US President-elect Donald Trump has announced his nominations for four senior Pentagon positions. One of the picks, Elbridge Colby, has been a vocal opponent of President Joe Biden’s military assistance to Ukraine.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump named Stephen Feinberg as his deputy secretary of defense, Colby as undersecretary for policy, Michael Duffey for undersecretary for acquisitions and sustainment, and Emil Michael as undersecretary for research and engineering.

Colby served in a senior Pentagon role during Trump’s first administration and helped draft the 2018 US National Defense Strategy, which identified China as the US’ leading “strategic competitor.” If confirmed as undersecretary for policy, he will advise Feinberg and prospective Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on all matters of defense and national security.

An anti-interventionist, Colby opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq and every American overseas deployment since. While he supports economic sanctions on Russia, he has repeatedly warned that sending Ukraine tens of billions of dollars worth of military aid does not benefit the US, and risks sparking a third world war.

“I think [nuclear war] is close,” he told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson last month, adding that “the people who are blithe about it are incredibly irresponsible.”

“The Ukrainians are losing the war,” he said, before explaining that the US military needs to focus its manpower and resources on “defense of the homeland.”

Colby has also argued against Ukraine’s admission to NATO, and said that refusing to get involved in the ongoing conflict with Russia would not have damaged the US’ credibility as the bloc’s largest military power.

Duffey has also served under Trump before. In 2019, he ordered the suspension of military aid to Ukraine after a phone call between Trump and Zelensky. Democrat lawmakers impeached Trump over this call, claiming that Trump used the aid as leverage to pressure Zelensky into reopening a corruption investigation against then-candidate Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. Trump and Zelensky both insisted that no such deal was arranged over the phone, and the US Senate voted to acquit Trump in 2020.

Feinberg is a hedge fund manager and major donor to Trump, while Michael was a senior executive at ride-sharing firm Uber.