Patrick Shanahan's office has denied allegations that the Acting Defense Secretary "took actions to promote his former employer, Boeing, and disparage its competitors." | Alex Brandon/AP Photo Defense IG investigating Shanahan over Boeing comments

The Pentagon's inspector general has begun an investigation into Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan's reported Boeing bias, the IG's office said Wednesday.

"The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General has decided to investigate complaints we recently received that Acting Secretary Patrick Shanahan allegedly took actions to promote his former employer, Boeing, and disparage its competitors, allegedly in violation of ethics rules," DoD IG spokesperson Dwrena Allen said.


"In his recent Senate Armed Services Committee testimony, Acting Secretary Shanahan stated that he supported an investigation into these allegations," she said. "We have informed him that we have initiated this investigation."

On March 13, the independent watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington requested the investigation based on a January report from POLITICO that said Shanahan, while he was deputy Defense secretary, disparaged Lockheed Martin in Pentagon meetings and held up Boeing as an example.

One former senior Defense Department official who was in one of the meetings said the Lockheed Martin F-35 program was "f---ed up" and argued the company "doesn't know how to run a program."

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At the Pentagon, Shanahan's spokesperson noted that the acting secretary welcomed an investigation when he appeared before senators last week.

"Acting Secretary Shanahan has at all times remained committed to upholding his ethics agreement filed with the DoD," Lt. Col. Joseph Buccino said. "This agreement ensures any matters pertaining to Boeing are handled by appropriate officials within the Pentagon to eliminate any perceived or actual conflict of interest issue with Boeing."

"This agreement ensures any matters pertaining to Boeing are handled by appropriate officials within the Pentagon to eliminate any perceived or actual conflict of interest issue with Boeing."

In the Senate, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, called the allegations being investigated by the IG a "serious matter" and urged that the results of the inquiry be made public.

“This administration has a history of trying to thwart reviews of potential misconduct and ethics violations," Reed said. "I stand ready to support the inspector general’s efforts, and hope they will proceed in a timely manner.”

Before coming to the Pentagon, Shanahan, an engineer by training, worked for Boeing for 31 years, mostly on the civil aviation side. He has signed an ethics agreement recusing himself from decisions involving Boeing.

In December, Bloomberg reported that Shanahan pressured the Air Force to buy Boeing F-15Xs, even though the Air Force said it wasn't interested.

Connor O'Brien contributed this report.