Does 'The Department of Defense, like the Department of State, had a coordinator who represented the department on the interagency committee concerned with counterterrorism.' stand independently of the premise 'The Department of Defense has a coordinator who had a seat on the interagency committee.', neither following nor contradicting it?
The Department of Defense, like the Department of State, had a coordinator who represented the department on the interagency committee concerned with counterterrorism.###The Department of Defense has a coordinator who had a seat on the interagency committee.