Pentagon’s Defense Production Act go-between removed from role

The Pentagon official in charge of working with private industry to boost production of medical equipment needed in the fight against the coronavirus has been removed from her position, the Defense Department confirmed on Thursday.

“The Department can confirm that Ms. Jennifer Santos is moving from her current position as the Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy to the Department of the Navy,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Andrews said in a statement.

Politico first reported that Santos was fired from her job this week and announced in a tearful Thursday morning staff call that she would leave at 5 p.m. on Friday.

No reason was given for Santos’s firing. She will move to a role within the Navy, working “to support critical projects,” alongside James “Hondo” Guerts, the assistant secretary for research, development, and acquisition, according to Andrews. 

“The department’s commitment to closely partnering with the defense industry remains unwavering, and we will continue to identify and mitigate impacts from the COVID-19 national emergency to ensure readiness and modernization,” Andrews said.

Santos, who had been in the job since June 2019, in the last few months has worked to use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to increase the U.S. supply of ventilators, personal protective equipment and testing materials as the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic has states scrambling for the vital and scarce gear.

The Trump administration has faced criticism over the president’s apparent hesitancy in the early months of the pandemic to fully use the DPA, which allows the government to demand its orders be given priority by manufacturers.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) issued a joint statement Thursday admonishing the administration for “failing to utilize the full powers of the federal government, including the Defense Production Act, to ensure that we manufacture the protective gear, tests, and medical equipment that our doctors, nurses, and frontline workers desperately need.”

“The dysfunction, incompetence and loyalty tests within this administration are disturbing, and have led to deadly consequences,” the lawmakers said.

Top Pentagon acquisition official Ellen Lord said in March that Santos and Kim Herrington, the director for defense pricing and contracting, “played key roles in really productive daily engagements with industry.”

Prior to that role, Santos worked on defense programs at consulting firm Cypress International, and was a staff member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

Updated at 6:49 p.m.