Joint chiefs vacancies loom amid Tuberville’s Senate standoff

WASHINGTON — A blanket hold by a lone U.S. senator on all high-level military promotions could prevent the confirmation of as many as five of the nominees to serve because the president’s most senior military advisers.

Five members of the joint chiefs of staff — including Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman — are required statutorily to depart their posts throughout the coming months, starting in July. Meanwhile, a lot of the vice chiefs — a lot of whom are the nominees or favorites to switch the chiefs — are preparing to assume leadership of the services amid the Senate impasse.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., is doubling down on his blockade of military confirmations. He told Defense News that the looming vacancies is not going to prompt him to back down from his ongoing hold on a whole lot of military promotions, including the joint chiefs.

“In the event that they’re frightened about readiness, they should return to their old policy and we’ll get it done,” Tuberville said on Wednesday. “But they’re more frightened about social programs than they’re about military readiness.”

The senator imposed his blockade in February to protest the Pentagon’s recent policy that gives leave time for troops to travel to receive abortion services in the event that they’re stationed in states where it’s now illegal.

The primary service chief emptiness will occur when Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger steps down on July 10, commencing a gradual stream of exits from the joint chiefs through October. Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville must step down next on August 8, followed by Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday shortly after on August 21.

President Joe Biden nominated Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown as the following joint chiefs chairman, replacing Milley, who must depart by early October, and creating one other opening at the highest of the Air Force.

“There’s no playbook for this,” Arnold Punaro, a former staff director on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in an interview with Defense News. “This is de facto a time for normal order, and never the chaos and uncertainty that we see within the system at once.”

The tumult sends a terrible message in regards to the seriousness with which america takes its military promotion process, he said.

“It sends an indication of weakness to the remaining of the world, that we are able to’t get our work done on time, and that we’re involved in political chaos,” Punaro said. “This has nothing to do with the individuals involved. We would like the young officers, and up-and-coming commanders to see that the military promotion system relies on merit and [who is] best qualified.”

The Senate typically confirms noncontroversial military nominees, including the joint chiefs, using expedited floor procedures via unanimous consent. But any individual senator can block a unanimous consent request, allowing Tuberville to force the Senate to maneuver through quite a few procedural votes on each individual nominee.

“All they’ve got to do is put it on the ground and vote for it,” Tuberville told Defense News. “I’ll vote for it.”

Tuberville’s hold would require several weeks of limited Senate floor time to verify the five joint chiefs nominees alone. Tuberville’s blockade can also be holding up greater than 220 flag and general officer promotions, which might take an extra several months of scarce floor time if the Senate did nothing but confirm military nominees. The Senate expects to receive a whole lot more military nominees in the approaching months.

Democratic leaders appear reluctant to make use of worthwhile floor time to verify otherwise noncontroversial nominees and worry that doing so will encourage other senators to dam military promotions so as to extract policy concessions.

“The Senate cannot encourage this behavior by handing out rewards for holding up a whole lot of nominees,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who chairs the military personnel panel, told Defense News.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., repeatedly declined to commit to scheduling floor votes for the joint chiefs nominees when pressed by reporters at a Wednesday press conference.

“What Sen. Tuberville has done is just awful,” Schumer told Defense News. “We imagine that Republican senators, in the event that they care about national security, ought to be putting pressure on him to release the holds.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said last month that he disagrees with Tuberville’s military holds.

And Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told Defense News he hoped the difficulty might be resolved with a vote on the Pentagon’s abortion policy within the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act– a suggestion that Tuberville shot down.

“I don’t wish to put it within the NDAA after which hold it up since you’re going to have those who might be against it,” Tuberville told Defense News. “I’d fairly have the Defense Department draw something up, send it over here and let’s vote on it, stand-alone.”

What happens next?

The proven fact that the identical nominees tapped to steer the services will fill in for the vacancies of their capability because the number two officer provides the Senate with little immediate incentive to resolve the impasse.

Punaro said vice chiefs would step in and perform those duties to maintain the services running on a day-to-day basis. Similarly, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Christopher Grady would temporarily perform the duties of chairman if Brown is just not confirmed by the start of October.

Delaying the beginning of recent chiefs’ tenures hinders their ability to begin making their desired changes to their services, he said.

Gen. Eric Smith, the Marines’ No. 2 officer and Biden’s nominee for commandant, is scheduled for a confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Given Smith’s current role as assistant commandant, the Marines are preparing for Smith to perform the commandant’s duties when Berger leaves on July 10 even when the Senate has not confirmed him by then.

The confirmation hearings for the opposite joint chiefs nominees, including Brown, are slated for July.

That features Army vice chief Gen. Randy George to switch McConville. Biden has yet to nominate a brand new Chief of Naval Operations, but Navy vice chief Admiral Lisa Franchetti is widely considered the favourite for the position.

And naturally, Biden may have to nominate a brand new Air Force chief of staff to switch Brown, with current Air Force vice chief Gen. David Allvin considered the frontrunner.

Senate Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., told Defense News “It might be absolutely irresponsible” to not have a congressionally confirmed service chief.

Senators have held up votes on noncontroversial nominees more often lately. As an example, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., imposed a blanket hold on all Defense Department civilian nominations for greater than a 12 months.

They aim military nominees less often. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Unwell., was the last senator to achieve this in 2020. Her hold lasted lower than two weeks before she lifted it. Against this, Tuberville’s hold has lasted greater than three months without end.

“What goes around comes around,” Reed told Defense News. “If principally this succeeds, then the following two years from now someone who wants an assault weapons ban will say ‘gee, I’ll just delay all of the generals.”

Jen Judson contributed to this report.