Page:CTRL0000034609 - Transcribed Interview of Kashyap Pramod Patel, (December 9, 2021).pdf/127

127 We don't want you to.

—classified information.

Okay.

So, if somebody talked to me about a job and I didn't get it, I'd be curious about why. Did you ever have conversations with anyone about why you were not ultimately, if given, offered either of those jobs in those two agencies?

I think I spoke to Mr. McEntee about it, like—

What did he say?

—in passing, like, he said the President just decided not to do it or something like that.

Did he say why?

We never got into the details that I can remember.

And you just never asked?

No, because, as I said before, we were busy. I wasn't going to spend time, when I had to execute the mission of the Department of Defense, worrying about the job. I knew I could worry about all of it on January 21st—

Okay.

—because I knew I'd no longer be there. So it might be hard for you to believe, but I put the mission first and made sure that mission was accomplished.

Okay. So, to be clear, you never had any conversation with anyone about why that didn't work out for you, other than Mr. McEntee saying it's not going to work out.

That I can recall. Other than Mr. McEntee, maybe a representative in PPO under him? Maybe? But I just—I don't know.

Was it your sense that Mr. McEntee generally was tasked with sort of