“It’s alarming that people can clear vetting after claiming U.S. interests in the Middle East are ‘minimal to nonexistent,’’ McConnell told JI

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) arrives with his wife, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao arrive for the Inauguration of Donald J. Trump in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Julia Demaree Nikhinson - Pool/Getty Images)
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is urging the Trump administration to “steer clear of Pentagon advisors who make their Obama and Biden predecessors look tough by comparison,” as Republicans grow increasingly concerned over recent high-ranking hires at the Department of Defense opposed to U.S. engagement in the Middle East — and the individual who hired them.
In a rebuke of the viewpoints held by at least one recent Pentagon hire and the staffing process that resulted in their appointments, McConnell, the longtime former Senate Republican leader, told Jewish Insider he finds it “alarming” that such individuals had survived the vetting process given each of their well-documented records on Middle East policy.
“President Trump has committed to restoring peace through strength and standing with Israel. But the folks staffing up his Pentagon operation don’t appear to have read the memo,” McConnell said in a statement to Jewish Insider.
“It’s alarming that people can clear vetting after claiming U.S. interests in the Middle East are ‘minimal to nonexistent,’ suggesting that America should ‘militarily retrench’ from the region, or claiming that providing Israel even defensive assistance against Iran-backed terrorists is escalatory. The administration would be wise to steer clear of Pentagon advisors who make their Obama and Biden predecessors look tough by comparison,” he continued.
McConnell, who now chairs the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Appropriations subcommittee responsible for defense funding, was quoting prior writings from Michael DiMino, Trump’s pick for deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, and Dan Caldwell, reportedly a top advisor to Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, who has been playing a role in the transition staffing process at the Pentagon.
DiMino, who was sworn in on Monday, said last February that the U.S. has “minimal to nonexistent” interests in the Middle East and the U.S.’ role in the region had not provided any benefits domestically or geostrategically.
Caldwell argued in a piece in Foreign Affairs in November that the U.S. “should militarily retrench from regions in which American interests are less pronounced, such as Europe and the Middle East, especially when the United States’ current responsibilities can be outsourced to relatively wealthy and capable allies.”
McConnell is the longest serving Senate leader in U.S. history, who stepped aside from his leadership role at the end of the last Congress. He vowed at the time to be outspoken in defense of his national security concerns, even if that meant diverging from the leader of his party.
Asked in an interview with JI last July what he wanted to see the next administration do to counter Iran, McConnell replied that, “I’m going to disappoint you in saying that I’m not going to tell you exactly what I would do, but what I know won’t work is what we’ve been doing.”
“Generally speaking, when you ratchet up the pressure on Iran, the behavior changes. I would certainly be in the camp of making it extremely uncomfortable to continue what they’re doing,” he said.