A dozen top military leaders remain in limbo as Tuberville retreats, but doesn’t surrender, in his battle against Pentagon abortion policy
Jamie McIntyre
425 DOWN, AT LEAST 12 TO GO: After nearly a year of using his senatorial privilege to block an ever-growing list of senior military promotions, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) threw in the towel in his one-man battle to force the Pentagon to reverse its abortion travel policy, and the Senate moved quickly to approve about 425 military promotions in one fell swoop.
Tuberville, who had been roundly rebuked by many of his Republican colleagues for his grandstanding power play, sounded the football coach he was in accepting defeat. “We didn’t get the win that we wanted. We’ve still got a bad policy,” he told reporters. “It’s been a long fight. We fought hard. We did the right thing for the unborn and for our military.”
But Tuberville continues to place a hold on about a dozen of the most senior nominations, including commanders who will be responsible for deterring and, if necessary, fighting China.
“And all of those positions obviously are key senior leadership positions,” spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said at the Pentagon, “to include the vice chiefs of the various services, the commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, the commander of Pacific Air Forces, commander of Air Combat Command, as well as the commander of United States Northern Command, Cyber Command, and Space Command.”
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had planned a vote to suspend the Senate rules to get around Tuberville’s blockade. It’s not clear whether Schumer will bring the remaining four-star nominations to the floor for individual votes or seek another legislative workaround.
TOMMY TUBERVILLE ENDS MILITARY BLOCKADE IN THE SENATE SPARKED BY ABORTION POLICY
REACTION, RECOVERY, RELIEF: Tuberville’s tactic of holding up the promotions of hundreds of military officers who had no responsibility for the abortion travel reimbursement policy he opposes resulted in widespread disruption in the professional and personal lives of the officers and their families.
“Thankfully, military leaders will finally be able to take their next post. Military families who for months have been in limbo will finally be able to make plans to move, start new jobs, and enter new schools,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “These confirmations are long overdue, and should never have been held up in the first place.”
Now the Pentagon has to figure out the best way to get people into key jobs and move their families to new locations.
“It’s not just flicking a switch and suddenly everyone moves into these new positions,” Ryder said at yesterday’s Pentagon briefing. “You have to consider things like when people can move, where the people that are moving out of the positions are going. And so all of that has to be carefully orchestrated and done in a way that enables us to continue to conduct the operations without having significant impact, not only on the mission but also on the individual family members.”
“I am glad that hundreds of our nation’s finest military leaders will finally receive their hard-won, merit-based promotions. They, and their families, have shown us what grace and grit look like in the face of hardship,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI) said in a statement. “No senator should ever attempt to advance their own partisan agenda on the backs of our troops like this again.”
“While the world is imploding due to a weak commander in chief, our servicemembers must have the leadership needed to ensure they are ready to protect the homeland, counter our adversaries, and keep Americans safe,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said in a statement. “My fight for life is never over, that’s why I will keep working to reverse the Biden administration’s unlawful, immoral abortion policy and ensure our military is protecting innocent lives at home and abroad.”
PENTAGON UNSATISFIED WITH TUBERVILLE LIFTING OF MOST HOLDS ON DOD NOMINEES
STILL IN LIMBO: Here’s the list of the key leaders and commanders whose nominations are still believed to be blocked by Tuberville:
Lt. Gen. James Mingus to be Army vice chief of staff Adm. Samuel Paparo to head Indo-Pacific Command Vice Adm. Jim Kilby to be vice chief of naval operations Vice Adm. Stephen Koehler to head U.S. Pacific Fleet Vice Adm. William Houston to head naval reactors Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach to head the Air Force’s Air Combat Command Lt. Gen. Tim Haugh to head the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command Lt. Gen. Jim Slife to be Air Force vice chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gregory Guillot to head U.S. Northern Command Lt. Gen. Kevin Schneider to head Pacific Air Forces Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting to head U.S. Space Command Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein to be vice chief of space operations
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Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Conrad Hoyt. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre
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HAPPENING TODAY: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) apparently plans to go ahead with a procedural vote on a supplemental appropriations bill that would include over $60 billion for aid to Ukraine despite a bitter partisan feud over border security that is certain to sink the bill.
The vote, if it happens, follows a raucous closed-door meeting in which at least a dozen Republicans walked out of a classified briefing from administration officials pushing for the Ukraine funding and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was supposed to address the groups via secure video link, was a no-show.
The whole thing went off the rails when Republicans, led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), made it clear they were more interested in talking about security at the southwestern border than the state of the war in Ukraine.
“It was immediately hijacked by Leader McConnell,” Schumer said afterward. “He called on [Sen. James] Lankford to give a five-minute talk about the negotiations on the border, and that wasn’t the purpose of the meeting at all.”
Tempers reportedly flared when Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AK) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) shouted questions at Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. “One of them started, was disrespectful, and started screaming at one of the generals and challenging him why he didn’t go to the border,” Schumer said.
“Dems want $106B — GOP wants a closed border. That’s the trade,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “But clueless Dems want to negotiate the border bill. Not going to happen.”
SCHUMER’S PLAN TO UNITE SENATE BLOWS UP AHEAD OF MAJOR VOTE
JOHNSON DIGS IN: In a letter in response to Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was adamant that no Ukraine aid will pass unless and until the situation at the border is addressed.
“The open U.S. border is an unconscionable and unsustainable catastrophe, and we have a moral responsibility to insist this madness stops immediately,” Johnson wrote. “Rather than engaging with congressional Republicans to discuss logical reforms, the Biden Administration has ignored reality, choosing instead to engage in political posturing.”
Johnson said he made clear in a meeting with national security adviser Jake Sullivan in October that “supplemental Ukraine funding is dependent upon enactment of transformative change to our nation’s border security laws.”
“We stand ready and willing to work with the Administration on a robust border security package that protects the interests of the American people,” Johnson said. “It is well past time for the administration to meaningfully engage with us.”
SPEAKER JOHNSON TELLS WHITE HOUSE UKRAINE AID IS ‘DEPENDENT ON’ BORDER POLICY CHANGES
TRUMP: ‘I’M NOT A DICTATOR … EXCEPT FOR DAY ONE’: In a cryptic exchange with Sean Hannity during a Fox News town hall last night, former President Donald Trump addressed the widespread criticism from the Left that a second Trump presidency would result in an autocratic dictatorship.
Here’s the exchange. Even Hannity seemed confused about what Trump was saying:
HANNITY: — under no circumstances. You are promising America tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?
TRUMP: Except for day one.
HANNITY: Except, what?
TRUMP: He’s going crazy. Except for day one.
HANNITY: Meaning?
TRUMP: I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.
HANNITY: That’s not — that’s not retribution. I got it.
TRUMP: I’m going to be — I’m going to be, you know, he keeps — we love those guy. He says, you’re not going to be a dictator, are you? I said, no, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border, and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.
HANNITY: Well, that sounds to me like you’re going back to the policies when you’re a president.
TRUMP: Exactly.
Earlier in the interview, Hannity asked Trump if he “in any way” had “any plans whatsoever, if reelected president, to abuse power, to break the law to use the government to go after people.”
“You mean like they’re using right now?” Trump replied.
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The Rundown
Washington Examiner: Tommy Tuberville ends military blockade in the Senate sparked by abortion policy
Washington Examiner: Pentagon unsatisfied with Tuberville lifting of most holds on DOD nominees
Washington Examiner: Schumer’s plan to unite Senate blows up ahead of major vote
Washington Examiner: Speaker Johnson tells White House Ukraine aid is ‘dependent on’ border policy changes
Washington Examiner: Concerns grow over military response to Iran proxy attacks: ‘We are not taking this seriously’
Washington Examiner: Kyiv mayor issues harsh condemnation of Zelensky as internal tensions grow
Washington Examiner: A year into Russian oil price cap, report casts doubt on its efficacy
Washington Examiner: Israel faces ‘most intense day’ of ground war in battle for Hamas stronghold
Washington Examiner: Can Hamas be defeated militarily?
Washington Examiner: Hamas drugged hostages prior to releasing them, Israeli government says
Washington Examiner: US imposes rare punishment on Israeli settler violence against Palestinians
Washington Examiner: Nuclear family: Kim Jong Un breaks down in tears telling North Korean women to have more children
Washington Examiner: The US-Mexico border is now of critical counterterrorism concern
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Republican Patrick McHenry puts China before US military lives
Washington Examiner: Opinion: How long will Republican unity on border security last?
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Hamas is just one part of the threat to Israel and the West
Washington Post: Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas. Yet the group remains largely intact.
New York Times: Biden’s Strategy Faces A Test As Israeli Forces Push Into Southern Gaza
Politico: Ukrainian Leaders Head to the US as Kyiv Prepares for Winter Fighting
USA Today: U.S. Navy Ship Attacked In Red Sea By Houthi Militants: How It Unfolded
Air & Space Forces Magazine: USAF Identifies All 8 Airmen Killed in Osprey Crash
Navy Times: Navy To Begin Search And Salvage Effort For Downed Army Black Hawk
Vice News: Pentagon Has Investigated Dozens of Extremism Cases Within Its Ranks
Air & Space Forces Magazine: With NATO Membership Looming, Sweden and US Sign New Defense Cooperation Deal
Inside Defense: DOD Staff Working on New ‘Mil-to-Mil’ Communication with China
Defense News: Replicator Offers Use Case for Defense Budget Reform, Panel Says
Defense One: Use More Drones, US Tells Allies, Partners
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Commercial Tankers Refuel USAF F-15, F-16, and F-22 Fighters For First Time Ever
Breaking Defense: DARPA Picks 14 Vendors for Lunar Economy-Building Study
Space News: NRO Signs Agreements with Five Commercial Suppliers of Electro-Optical Imagery
Military Times: Here Are The 422 Military Leaders Finally Confirmed By The Senate
Red Snow: Analysis: Tuberville notches another historic loss
Calendar
WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 6
10 a.m. 419 Dirksen — Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing: “Transnational Repression: Authoritarians Targeting Dissenters Abroad,” with testimony from Christo Grozev, investigative journalist co-founder, Bellingcat Productions; Michael Abramowitz, president, Freedom House; and Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, international legal counsel to Jimmy Lai, Doughty Street barristers, London, England https://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings/transnational-repression
11 a.m. Pentagon River Entrance — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin welcomes Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng to the Pentagon
2 p.m. — GovExec webcast “Enhancing Cloud Security: Partnering for Success,” with David McKeown, senior information security officer and deputy chief information officer for cybersecurity, Department of Defense; and others https://events.govexec.com/enhancing-cloud-security/
2 p.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Cyber, Information Technology, and Innovation Subcommittee hearing: “Back to the Future” https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings/citi-hearing-back-future
3 p.m. 222 Russell — Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee hearing: “The status of Defense Department recruiting efforts and plans for FY2024” https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings/
12 p.m. — Association of the U.S. Army “Noon Report” webinar: “U.S. Army’s role in 1980s U.N. peacekeeping operations in the Middle East, with retired Col. L. Scott Lingamfelter, author of Yanks in Blue Berets: American UN Peacekeepers in the Middle East https://www.ausa.org/events/noon-report-yanks-blue-berets
8 p.m. Tuscaloosa, Alabama — Fourth Republican presidential primary debate, with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL); former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley; Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy; former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ); and moderated by SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly, NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas, and the Washington Free Beacon’s Eliana Johnson. Broadcast on NewsNation and The CW network and livestream at https://rumble.com/gop-debate
THURSDAY | DECEMBER 7
8 a.m. 801 Wharf St. SW — Aspen Security Forum D.C. Edition with Doug Beck, director, Defense Innovation Unit; Gen. Bryan Fenton, commander, U.S. Special Operations Command; Michele Flournoy, co-founder and managing partner, WestExec Advisors; former undersecretary of defense for policy; Gen. Anthony Cotton, commander, U.S. Strategic Command; Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID); David Cameron, secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth, and development affairs, United Kingdom; John Podesta, senior adviser to the president for clean energy innovation and implementation; Katherine Tai, U.S. trade representative; Adm. Linda Fagan, commandant, U.S. Coast Guard; Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA); Mara Karlin, assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and capabilities; Elizabeth Rosenberg, assistant secretary of treasury for terrorist financing and financial crimes https://www.aspensecurityforum.org
8 a.m. 2401 M St., NW — George Washington University Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group breakfast conversation with Benedetta Berti, head of NATO policy planning in the office of the NATO Secretary-General. RSVP: Thom Shanker at [email protected]
8:30 a.m. 700 L’Enfant Plaza SW — U.S. Naval Institute: Defense Forum Washington 2023, with Marine Gen. Christopher Mahoney, assistant Marine Corps commandant; Ronald O’Rouke, specialist in naval affairs, Congressional Research Service; and others https://www.usni.org/events/defense-forum-washington-2023
8:30 a.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. — Hudson Institute discussion: “The B-21 Bomber and Its Deterrence Mission,” with Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior fellow and director of the Hudson Institute’s Keystone Defense Initiative https://www.hudson.org/events/senator-mike-rounds-b-21-bomber
9 a.m. 2212 Rayburn — House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing: “Regional Missile Defense Assets — Assessing COCOM and Allied Demand for Capabilities,” with testimony from John Hill, deputy assistant secretary of defense for space and missile defense policy; Army Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey, director of the Department of the Army’s Management Office (DAMO)-Fires and Joint Capabilities (G-3/5/7); Navy Rear Adm. Douglas Williams, acting director of the Missile Defense Agency; and Army Brig. Gen. Clair Gill, deputy director for regional operations and force management for the Joint Staff J-3 https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings/str-hearing-regional-missile-defense
11 a.m. 419 Dirksen — Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to consider the nomination of Kurt Campbell to be deputy secretary of state https://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings/nominations
11 a.m. — National Security Space Association “SpaceTime Series,” with Derek Tournear, director, Space Development Agency, and Chris Williams, chairman of NSSA’s Moorman Center for Space Studies https://nssaspace.org/event/tournear-2023
12 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “Egypt and the War in Gaza,” with Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Sameh Shoukry and Jon Alterman, CSIS senior vice president
1:30 p.m. 600 New Hampshire Ave. NW — Defense One forum: “The Future of Defense Acquisition,” with Douglas Bush, assistant secretary of the Army; Dave Tremper, deputy assistant defense secretary for acquisition integration and interoperability; and Will Roper, CEO of Istari Digital and former assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology, and logistics https://events.defenseone.com/do-the-future-of-defense
5:30 p.m. New York, New York — Common Good discussion: “Ukraine, Russia, and the Future of Putin,” with William Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital Management and head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, and Richard Salomon, founder and CEO of Vantage Point Consultants https://www.thecommongoodus.org/upcoming-events/ukraine-russia-and-the-future-of-putin
6:30 p.m. 2301 Constitution Ave. NW — Washington Film Institute and the U.S. Institute of Peace screening and discussion of the documentary, “Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” with director Evgeny Afineevsky and Marie Yovanovitch, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine https://www.usip.org/events/screening-freedom-fire-ukraines-fight-freedom
FRIDAY | DECEMBER 8
9 a.m. 801 N. Glebe Rd. — The Intelligence and National Security Alliance “Leadership Breakfast,” Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander, U.S. Cyber Command, and director, NSA/Chief, CSS. https://www.insaonline.org/detail-pages/event
11 a.m. 789 Massachusetts Ave., NW— American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in-person and virtual discussion: “American Democracy and a Fragile World Order,” with John M. Owen IV, author of The Ecology of Nations: American Democracy in a Fragile World Order; and Colin Dueck, nonresident senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute https://www.aei.org/events/discussing-american-democracy
SATURDAY | DECEMBER 9
3 p.m. and 7 p.m. — The U.S. Air Force Band, the U.S. Air Force Concert Band, and Singing Sergeants present a free-to-the-public holiday concert series, “Season of Hope” at DAR Constitution Hall, with the Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir, the Alexandria School of Highland Dance, and a special visitor from the North Pole. Tickets: https://usafband.ticketleap.com
SUNDAY | DECEMBER 10
3 p.m. — The U.S. Air Force Band, the U.S. Air Force Concert Band, and Singing Sergeants present a free-to-the-public holiday concert series, “Season of Hope” at DAR Constitution Hall, with the Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir, the Alexandria School of Highland Dance, and a special visitor from the North Pole. Tickets: https://usafband.ticketleap.com
QUOTE OF THE DAY “I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill. … After that, I’m not a dictator.” Former President Donald Trump, during a Fox News town hall interview Tuesday, in response to a question from Sean Hannity about whether he would ever abuse his power as retribution against anybody