{"id":31226,"date":"2023-05-04T19:21:55","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T19:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/05\/04\/former-secdefs-blast-senator-over-irresponsible-nomination-holds\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:59:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:59:38","slug":"former-secdefs-blast-senator-over-irresponsible-nomination-holds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2023\/05\/04\/former-secdefs-blast-senator-over-irresponsible-nomination-holds\/","title":{"rendered":"Former SecDefs blast senator over \u2018irresponsible\u2019 nomination holds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Seven former defense secretaries on Thursday sharply criticized <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2023\/03\/24\/abortion-fight-in-senate-snarls-hundreds-of-military-promotions\/\" target=\"_blank\">Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville<\/a> for his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2023\/04\/25\/no-end-in-sight-to-senate-fight-over-military-nominations\/\" target=\"_blank\">blanket hold on senior military promotions<\/a> as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democrats.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/letter_from_seven_former_united_states_secretaries_of_defense.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">dangerous to national security and cruel to individual military families.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The letter \u2014 signed by both Republican and Democratic nominees to the top Pentagon post \u2014 is the latest salvo in the ongoing fight between the Biden administration and the Republican senator, who is objecting to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2023\/02\/16\/troops-can-take-three-weeks-off-to-travel-for-abortions-ivf-treatment\/\" target=\"_blank\">Defense Department\u2019s abortion access policies<\/a> by snarling normally routine Senate confirmation business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tuberville, a Republican, began his holds in March. They now include about 200 general and flag officers awaiting promotion and new assignments, plus several civilian Defense Department nominees. In a letter to Senate leaders, the group of former defense secretaries called the move \u201cirresponsible and uncaring\u201d and urged resolution to the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe appreciate that senators can have sincere and legitimate concerns about a Pentagon policy, including as it may relate to broader domestic or social issues,\u201d they wrote. \u201cHowever, we believe placing a hold on all uniformed nominees risks turning military officers into political pawns, holding them responsible for a policy decision made by their civilian leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2023\/04\/25\/no-end-in-sight-to-senate-fight-over-military-nominations\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23087724428933.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">No end in sight to Senate fight over military nominations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Nearly 200 nominations have been stalled over one senator&#039;s objections to military abortion policies.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Signers of the letter were Jim Mattis, Mark Esper, Chuck Hagel, Leon Panetta, Robert Gates, William Cohen and William Perry. The list includes every living individual confirmed to the defense secretary post since 1994 except current Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tuberville has said he won\u2019t drop his objection until military officials pull back the defense policy announced last fall which provides leave time and stipends for troops and qualified family members to travel across state lines to receive abortion services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Military leaders have said the move was needed to preserve troops\u2019 medical rights following a number of states outlawing abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court\u2019s decision to overturn the long-standing Roe v. Wade ruling last summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A series of defense officials have criticized Tuberville\u2019s holds in testimony on Capitol Hill in recent weeks, but Tuberville said he has not seen any evidence that military readiness is being jeopardized by the political fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the command positions stalled by the move are the new head of the 5th Fleet in Bahrain, the new head of the 7th Fleet in the Pacific, and the next director of intelligence at U.S. Cyber Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf this blanket hold is not lifted, nearly 80 three- and four-star commanders who are ending their terms in the coming months will not be able to be replaced,\u201d the former defense secretaries wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lawmakers can call up individual nominations and promotions for full-chamber votes, and have done so for a few posts already. But going through all 200 could take months of procedural votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Senate Republican leaders have either supported Tuberville\u2019s holds or declined public requests to convince the Alabama lawmaker to find an alternative way to object to the abortion issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a statement following the defense secretaries\u2019 letter, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., reiterated his objection to Tuberville\u2019s holds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis blockade is a profound attack on the professionalism of our military,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cIt needs to end. These officers earned their military promotions based on their merits. They do not deserve to be prevented from promotions and positions \u2026 because of policy issues that are beyond their control.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The seven former military leaders said holding up confirmations hurts military operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":108174,"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":38,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[38,31,9],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3294],"class_list":["post-31226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-home","category-federal-oversight"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"LXTAUEIKD5EFFIHEF7VZQ2KH6U","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2023\/05\/04\/former-secdefs-blast-senator-over-irresponsible-nomination-holds\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former SecDefs blast senator over \u2018irresponsible\u2019 nomination holds - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The seven former military leaders said holding up confirmations hurts military operations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former SecDefs blast senator over \u2018irresponsible\u2019 nomination holds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The seven former military leaders said holding up confirmations hurts military operations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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