I know of no other case where an active duty military officer has been appointed to a civilian position in government. I agree with Levin's assessment that if Bolden wanted the position, he should resign his commission.

This isn't a small issue. One of the things that I learned at Officer Training School was that it was forbidden to mix politics and military service. In fact, it's a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for an officer to criticize an elected official. A Deputy Administrator couldn't avoid dealing with political issues.

I'm not in any way anti-military but strongly support civilian rule of the military. This tradition is at the heart of our government and is one of the reasons why the US never has (and never will) been in the "Coup of the Month Club" so popular in countries where the military doesn't know its place.