Concern over Matttis plan to appoint Anne Patterson to high Pentagon post

US Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis’ plan to appoint former US ambassador to Cairo Anne Patterson as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, the third top Pentagon position, is causing disquiet in American Jewish circles and Jerusalem. When Patterson headed the US embassy in Cairo in 2011-2013, she actively promoted the Obama administration’s policy to raise the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi to power in the wake of President Hosni Mubarak’s ouster. She developed close ties with the Brotherhood, actively speaks on their behalf in Washington and is also seen as an advocate for the extremist Palestinian Hamas.