Defense officials warn of potential impact Tuberville hold on nominations will have on military

The hold on nominations could have a considerable logistical impact on military officers and their families. A defense official explained that a general officer up for promotion into a new role cannot move themselves or their family to that new command without military orders to do so, and those orders are not cut until they are confirmed to take that new job.

“The entire promotion pyramid relies on the fact that those at the top retire or promote out of their positions,” said Katherine Kuzminski, director of the Center for a New American Security’s Military, Veterans, and Society program. “If this goes on for more than a couple of months, you affect the entire grade plate all the way down.”

Kuzminski also said that the fight is further politicizing the military, something that Tuberville and other Republicans in Congress have repeatedly raised as a concern in recent hearings with defense officials. Senators should be asking questions of the political appointees, Kuzminski said, not involving uniform leaders who “do not set the policy.”

“In some ways, this is sending the message to the general public that military leadership had a role in deciding this particular policy or any policy,” she said, “when in reality, they’re entrusted to enact the policy set forth by the politicals.”

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