John Kirby Stepping Down As Pentagon Press Secretary
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DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Adrian Cadiz(WASHINGTON) — Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby announced during his briefing on Wednesday that he will be stepping down in a few weeks.
At his just-concluded Pentagon briefing, Kirby acknowledged that he would be leaving the post of press secretary in a few weeks. The news had broken in the New York Times just moments before the briefing began.
When asked on Wednesday if it was his last briefing, Kirby said he did not know. “It could be. I don’t know. It’s going to just depend on the — you know, the weekly scheduling,” he said.
Kirby said on Wednesday that Ash Carter hasn’t made a decision yet as to who will succeed him.
It wasn’t until the end of the briefing that Kirby was asked if Carter did not want a military officer in the role of press secretary.
“He comes to the job wanting to revisit the role of spokesman here,” said Kirby. “And one of the questions he wants to rhetorically ask and consider, is not just who the individual is but what that individual represents. And whether it’s appropriate or not to have a uniform up here.”
Kirby added those were “fair questions to ask as he comes onto the job.”
Kirby took a while when asked if he’d ever found himself in the uncomfortable position of having to defend an administration policy as a uniformed officer.
He finally answered that incidents like that had been far and few, which he attributed to Pentagon reporting being less political than other parts of town.
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