In a new article for The Washington Post, several of the top civilian leaders in the military — including the Secretaries of the Navy, Air Force, and Army — confronted and condemned recent and ongoing actions from Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who has launched an unprecedented series of objections to the confirmations of officers for hundreds of top posts in military leadership.
Tuberville’s blockade has even affected the top uniformed officer positions inside the Marines, Army, and Navy, with the roles — whose occupants are normally part of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — now without Senate-confirmed leadership. The responsibilities ordinarily associated with these roles are now being fulfilled partly on what’s known as an acting basis by others, but in some cases, that means substantial duties across two roles for a single officer — and it’s not difficult to imagine how repeating that scenario dozens and dozens of times could create substantial logistical problems.
Tuberville has acted in outrage at the Defense Department making travel support available for personnel seeking an abortion, health services that until semi-recently were available much more extensively. “After the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, this policy is critical and necessary to meet our obligations to the force. It is also fully within the law, as confirmed by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel,” the Secretaries told Post readers.
The officials also spoke to some of the personal impacts mounting for those affected, such as the officers assuming an “acting” role in addition to their ordinary responsibilities. “We know officers who have incurred significant unforeseen expenses and are facing genuine financial stress because they have had to relocate their families or unexpectedly maintain two residences,” they said. “Military spouses who have worked to build careers of their own are unable to look for jobs because they don’t know when or if they will move. Children haven’t known where they will go to school, which is particularly hard given how frequently military children change schools already.”
Tuberville’s actions again strain any GOP assertion that their party can somehow lay claim to defending the military and law enforcement. Would GOP star Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) spend so much time stumping for January 6 participants, a group including many who assaulted police, if such was the truth?
