{"id":40595,"date":"2020-08-03T00:25:08","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T00:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/08\/03\/controversial-nominee-tata-appointed-to-top-defense-job-bypassing-congress\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:21:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:21:59","slug":"controversial-nominee-tata-appointed-to-top-defense-job-bypassing-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2020\/08\/03\/controversial-nominee-tata-appointed-to-top-defense-job-bypassing-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversial nominee Tata appointed to a top defense job, bypassing Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Updated 8\/3\/20 at 9:41 AM EST with comment from Reed.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The Defense Department announced Sunday evening that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2020\/06\/24\/republicans-eye-meeting-on-troubled-pentagon-policy-nominee\/\" target=_blank>controversial nominee<\/a> Anthony Tata has been appointed to fill the Pentagon\u2019s No. 2 policy job, in a move that some members of Congress see as circumventing the Senate\u2019s confirmation process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The move <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2020\/07\/30\/senate-hearing-cancelled-for-controversial-pentagon-nominee-anthony-tata\/\">came just days<\/a> after the Senate Armed Services Committee scrapped a confirmation hearing for Tata, a retired Army brigadier general and Fox News guest who has been a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, after there was not enough support among Republican senators to push his nomination through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tata was originally nominated as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2017\/10\/04\/one-hand-tied-behind-your-back-why-dods-empty-policy-chair-matters\/\" target=_blank>undersecretary of defense for policy<\/a>, the top foreign relations and policy job in the building. Now, he will be performing the duties of the deputy undersecretary for policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMr. Tata withdrew from consideration before the Senate Armed Services Committee his nomination to be the undersecretary of defense for policy,\u201d according to a department spokesman. \u201cHe has been designated as the official performing the duties of the deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, reporting to the Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Dr. James Anderson. He looks forward to continuing to help implement the president\u2019s national security agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anderson is the officially confirmed deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, having been cleared by the Senate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2020\/06\/03\/senate-confirms-anderson-mercado-to-defense-policy-jobs\/\">in early June<\/a>. However, as there is no current undersecretary for policy, Anderson is serving as the acting in that capacity \u2014 meaning that the deputy role is open for Tata to slide into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Roughly 15 minutes before a scheduled SASC hearing Thursday for Tata, committee chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., announced a delay, saying there were \u201cmany Democrats and Republicans who didn\u2019t know enough about Anthony Tata to consider him for a very significant position at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inhofe has had to navigate the White House\u2019s refusal to budge on Tata for weeks, even after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/06\/15\/politics\/tata-pentagon-nominee-kfile\/index.html\">CNN reported<\/a> Tata called Obama \u201ca terrorist leader,\u201d and called Islam \u201cthe most oppressive violent religion that I know of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition, Tata retired from the military in 2009 after an Army inquiry found that he conducted \u201cat least two\u201d adulterous affairs while serving, considered a crime by the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In June, Tata apologized to the Senate for his offensive remarks, saying he \u201cdeeply regretted\u201d them, and had a closed-door session with the committee on Tuesday to try and smooth over concerns. But sources say that Tata, who was unanimously opposed by Democrats on the committee, could not muster enough support from members of his own party to move forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of the 60 Senate-confirmed roles at the Pentagon, at least 18 are being filled by officials in an acting capacity. Tata becomes the second official to be appointed to an acting role, bypassing the need for Senate confirmation, from outside the department this month. On July 13, White House Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios was named acting undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rep. Adam Smith, the Democrat from Washington state who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Sunday that, \u201cOur system of checks and balances exists for a reason and the Senate\u2019s role in the confirmation process for administration appointees ensures individuals at the highest levels of government are highly qualified.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf an appointee cannot gain the support of the Senate, as is clearly the case with Tata, then the president should not put that person into an identical temporary role. This evasion of scrutiny makes our government less accountable and prioritizes loyalty over competence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI., the ranking member on the SASC, issued a blistering statement, calling the Tata move \u201can insult to our troops, professionals at the Pentagon, the Senate, and the American people\u201d that represents \u201ca flagrant end run around the confirmation process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf President Trump\u2019s goal is to hollow out, politicize, and undermine the Pentagon the way he has the State Department and Intelligence Community, then mission accomplished. This is an offensive, destabilizing move and General Tata should not be appointed to a Senate-confirmed position,\u201d Reed said. \u201c\u201cThe American people must not grow numb to the dizzying dysfunction of this Administration and the Senate should not allow moves like this to go unchecked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But ultimately, Congress has few options to respond. The president has the right to appoint acting officials to open spots, and so Tata is effectively safe as long as Trump is willing to keep him in the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the move does come ahead of a week when eight defense nominees were set to have their hearings before the SASC. The Senate has in the past held up nominees as a way to express disapproval with White House actions or force changes to Pentagon policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, a hearing is scheduled for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2020\/03\/24\/whitley-to-be-nominated-for-cape-director\/\" target=_blank>John Whitley<\/a> to be CAPE director, Shon Manasco to be Air Force under secretary; Michele Pearce to be Army general counsel and Liam Hardy to be a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. That is followed Thursday by a hearing for Jason Abend to be the department inspector general; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2020\/06\/12\/retired-army-special-forces-officer-named-as-pentagon-intel-nominee\/\">Bradley Hansell<\/a> to be deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence; Lucas Polakowski to be assistant secretary for nuclear, chemical and biological defense): and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2020\/05\/04\/trump-taps-private-equity-executive-for-top-special-operations-job\/\">Louis Bremer<\/a> to be assistant secretary for special operations\/low intensity conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Joe Gould in Washington contributed to this report. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tata&#8217;s nomination hearing was indefinitely postponed Thursday when it became clear he did not have the votes to become undersecretary of defense for policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":44069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","home","middle-column","left-column"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"4":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","home","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","middle-column"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"5":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","home","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","middle-column"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"6":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","home","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","middle-column"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"7":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","home","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","middle-column"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"}}},"categories":[160,36,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3378],"class_list":["post-40595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NMLOXCIRSNEPLC3A4LJ5OEJTZE","arc_canonical_url":"\/pentagon\/2020\/08\/02\/controversial-nominee-tata-appointed-to-top-defense-job-bypassing-congress\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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