A member of the Pentagon’s Defense Business Board quit in protest on Monday after Trump loyalists Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie were appointed to the board last week.
“My service to the Department of Defense was a service to the country, not to a party. I hereby tender my resignation,” Steve Blank, the member, told acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller in his resignation letter, per CNN.
Blank slammed the administration’s decision to fire several of the board members before installing Lewandowski and Bossie, who served as Trump’s 2016 campaign manager and deputy campaign manager, respectively.
“The abrupt termination of more than half of the Defense Business Board and their replacement with political partisans has now put the nation’s safety and security at risk,” Blank wrote.
The stunning appointments followed a sweeping purge that saw nine people get ousted from the traditionally nonpartisan board.