Investing.com - Another retired U.S. general is joining the Trump Cabinet, according to an announcement by the transition team in New York City.
Former Marine Corps. Gen. John Kelly has previously, publicly stated his hawkish views on the security of the U.S.-Mexican border. Another Marine veteran, Gen. James Mattis, is taking the helm at the Pentagon. Former Gen. Michael Flynn has been named White House National Security Advisor, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.
“In my opinion, the relative ease with which human smugglers moved tens of thousands of people to our nation’s doorstep also serves as another warning sign: These smuggling routes are a potential vulnerability to our homeland,” Kelly said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2015. "These smuggling routes along the border make the U.S. vulnerable to an influx of terrorists and weapons of mass destruction."
Kelly was then the commander-in-chief of the Southern Command, the command responsible for all U.S. military activities in South and Central America. Prior to that, he headed the Multi-National Force (MNF) in Iraq.
Kelly is an alumnus of the University of Massachussets, Boston, a top public university in the U.S.
Leading defense stocks were up on Wall Street today, including Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT), partly on the news of the latest pro-military Trump Cabinet pick and on the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attacks on the U.S. in Hawaii in Pearl Harbor, which plunged the U.S. into World War II, and transformed the nation into a global superpower.
TheDow Jones Industrial Average was up at 2:30 p.m. Eastern today, as was the NASDAQ Composite.