NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Top Defense Department officials at an Air Force conference this week repeatedly decried — at times in direct and colourful language — a senator’s wide-ranging hold on confirmations of general officers and called on him to lift it.
The comments on the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference here continued the Pentagon’s recent pattern of confronting Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, over his six-month blockade of general officer nominations over the department’s abortion policy. And so they mark a noticeable difference in how Pentagon officials, particularly uniformed officers, are inclined to approach differences with Capitol Hill, which are often handled behind the scenes or with gentler public phrasing.
Tuberville objects to the Pentagon’s decision, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, to permit troops to take leave to travel to a different state to receive abortion services in the event that they serve in a state that bans such care.
Greater than 300 general officer nominations at the moment are held up by Tuberville’s holds, including Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown’s nomination to succeed Army Gen. Mark Milley as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Milley is required by law to retire at first of October. The Army, Navy and Marine Corps are also without confirmed service chiefs attributable to the hold.
Gen. Mark Kelly, the retiring head of Air Combat Command, warned in a roundtable with reporters Tuesday that the disruption and unfilled positions brought on by the hold have not only unsettled allies and caused them to lose confidence in the US’ competence but have also emboldened the nation’s adversaries.
“When you drive north … on Connecticut Avenue, that popping sound shouldn’t be straight gunfire,” Kelly said. “It’s champagne corks within the Chinese Embassy, bouncing off the partitions.”
In his keynote address to AFA on Monday, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall led a round of applause for several general officers who’ve been waiting — in some cases as much as half a yr — for the Senate to verify them of their latest roles.
Though Kendall didn’t mention Tuberville by name in his address, he did call out the senator over perceived consequences.
“It is a situation that one senator has created for us,” Kendall said. “All these men and girls, and their units and their families, are having their readiness and their lives negatively affected by your unprecedented actions.
“They’re all doing their duty and making whatever sacrifice we ask of them — including those associated along with your holds.”
Kendall, together with Army Secretary Christine Wormuth and Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, also co-authored an op-ed within the Washington Post and appeared on CNN earlier this month blasting Tuberville’s hold.
At AFA on Tuesday, Kelly — who noted he expected to be retired by now after Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach would have succeeded him — said he’s anxious concerning the effect the hold is having on the military’s officer corps, allies and adversaries.
Officers and their families give a terrific deal when they serve within the military, he said, citing the disruptions to their children’s education and spouses’ employment opportunities that may include military life.
But, Kelly said, their tolerance shouldn’t be unlimited.
“Each [officer] has their very own individual red line,” Kelly said. “I discuss with them daily. And we’re on the perimeter of losing a generation of champions, [in] my opinion.”
Kelly said the US’ allies look to its military as “a beacon of competence and confidence” — however the nation’s current dynamic “doesn’t instill confidence.”
“A few of them have an interest and vexed, a few of them are downright concerned,” Kelly continued. “We attempt to allay those concerns as much as possible, nevertheless it’s getting more difficult by the day.”
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In his own remarks at AFA on Wednesday, Navy Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also highlighted the “human cost” to the hold and said it have to be considered.
“It goes beyond” the final and flag officers, he said. “It goes all the best way right down to those [lieutenant colonels], who’re looking up and waiting to maneuver forward and might’t do it straight away. That’s difficult.”
“The incontrovertible fact that folks can’t plan for his or her moves or get their kids at school, that’s also difficult,” Grady continued. “There’s a really significant human dimension to this.”
Grady said Brown “definitely is the suitable man at the suitable time” to succeed Milley, and called for him to be confirmed.
Kendall said he and other defense leaders had constructive conversations with Tuberville previously, and are completely satisfied to speak with him concerning the hold. However the secretary drew a line against changing the abortion policy that has incensed the Republican.
“So far as I can tell, we’re not going to alter the policy. I see no indication of that,” Kendall said. “And I don’t think we should always, quite frankly.
“So, we’d like to resolve this,” he continued. “It’s gone on long enough. It’s doing loads of harm.”
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
Colin Demarest is a reporter at C4ISRNET, where he covers military networks, cyber and IT. Colin previously covered the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration — namely Cold War cleanup and nuclear weapons development — for a day by day newspaper in South Carolina. Colin can be an award-winning photographer.