{"id":599419,"date":"2021-07-21T16:51:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T20:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=599419"},"modified":"2021-07-21T16:51:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T20:51:03","slug":"nomination-delays-spur-pentagon-personnel-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nomination-delays-spur-pentagon-personnel-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Nomination Delays Spur Pentagon Personnel Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnomination-delays-spur-pentagon-personnel-crisis%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=599419&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div readability=\"27.542288557214\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/\">National Security<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Only six appointees confirmed by Senate as threats from Russia and China grow<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"491\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Biden-5-736x491-1.jpeg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Biden-5-scaled-e1626899843446.jpeg 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Biden-5-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Biden-5-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Biden-5-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Biden-5-1536x1025.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Biden-5-2048x1366.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Biden-5-1400x934.jpeg 1400w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tGetty Images\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/jack-beyrer\/\" title=\"Posts by Jack Beyrer\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Jack Beyrer<\/a> \u2022 July 21, 2021 4:45 pm<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"125.59012681159\">\n<p>More than two dozen vital leadership positions at the Pentagon remain without appointees from President Joe Biden, a historic delay that could threaten national security, according to experts.<\/p>\n<p>Biden has only pushed six senior Department of Defense nominees through the full confirmation process, leaving vacancies among military brass. He has yet to install secretaries of the Navy and Air Force more than six months into his administration. Some 20 nominees for senior positions await confirmation votes.<\/p>\n<p>The sluggish pace falls short of even the Trump administration\u2019s early staffing woes, which Democrats roundly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/issues\/security\/reports\/2017\/05\/01\/431566\/reckless-endangerment-president-trump-use-military-force\/\">criticized<\/a>&nbsp;at the time. A <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> analysis found that by the end of July 2017, the Trump administration and Republican-controlled Senate confirmed more senior political appointees to the Pentagon than the Biden administration, and several others received confirmation in the following months.<\/p>\n<p><span>Sen. Jim Inhofe (R., Okla.), the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, urged the Biden administration and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) to speed up its nominee process and bring nominees to a vote as soon as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;It\u2019s integral to have Senate-confirmed leadership at the Pentagon, no matter who is the president\u2014it\u2019s in the best interest of our national security,&#8221; Inhofe told the <\/span><i><span>Free Beacon<\/span><\/i><span>. &#8220;I\u2019d like to see Sen. Schumer bring more of these nominees to the floor for a vote sooner rather than later, and I welcome additional nominees from President Biden, including for critical service assistant secretary positions.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Schumer did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p><span>Critical unfilled positions are not limited to service chiefs. The Biden administration has not submitted nominations for assistant secretary positions integral to setting plans for weapons and vehicle acquisition, legislative affairs, and military readiness. Many of these positions shape future defense budgets, and a lack of confirmed political leadership at the Pentagon sets the administration back in drafting long-term plans to compete with Russia and China, lawmakers and experts say.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Thomas Spoehr, director of the Heritage Foundation&#8217;s Center for National Defense, said the &#8220;clock is ticking&#8221; for the Biden administration to staff its department as it wastes time crucial to developing plans to beat Russia and China. He pointed to the National Defense Strategy\u2014a massive document produced every four years to outline America&#8217;s future defense strategy\u2014which is set for public release in 2022. The release of the document could be derailed by vacancies at the Pentagon.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;This administration has to produce a new national defense strategy, and the key people who would do that have not had a [Senate] vote,&#8221; Spoehr said. &#8220;That constrains the administration in making changes and implementing policy\u2026. They have no enthusiasm or interest in talking about national defense.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Biden administration&#8217;s confirmation process has been hindered in part by Democratic opposition. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has <a href=\"https:\/\/insidedefense.com\/daily-news\/senators-holding-kendall-nomination-over-defense-contractor-ties-and-f-35-training-center\">held up<\/a> several nominees, including the potential secretary of the Air Force, citing their close ties to the defense industry. Armed Services Committee member Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) blasted the administration\u2019s unpreparedness on the issue, telling the <\/span><i><span>Free Beacon <\/span><\/i><span>the White House\u2019s sluggish pace shows &#8220;a fundamental lack of care for issues such as national security and budget.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>China and Russia in recent years have unveiled upgraded weapons and platforms such as nuclear missiles, submarines, and space weapons. For House Armed Services Committee ranking member Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Ala.), the slow appointment process makes it &#8220;impossible&#8221; for the Pentagon to enact vital changes to keep pace with foreign adversaries, particularly in the Air Force, as well as in space defense.<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;<\/span>This administration hasn\u2019t even bothered to nominate a person for the assistant secretary [for space acquisition] position, much less work to get them through a Senate controlled by the president\u2019s party,&#8221; Rogers told the <i>Free&nbsp;<\/i><i>Beacon<\/i>. &#8220;Every day we wait is another day China and Russia have to overtake us in space.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span>The White House did not return a request for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>Jack McEvoy&nbsp;<\/span><\/i><i><span>contributed reporting to this article.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National Security Only six appointees confirmed by Senate as threats from Russia and China grow  Getty Images  Jack Beyrer \u2022 July 21, 2021 4:45 &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-599419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}