Addressing a crowd of Navy sailors, officers and industry at the Surface Navy Association's annual event, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti emphasized a clear focus for the fleet: warfighting.
"How in the hell do you lose an F-35?"
Though hundreds of officers now appear to have a path to confirmation, officers up for positions like the head of Indo-Pacific Command and US Cyber Command remain in limbo.
Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Air Force Gen. David Allvin have been confirmed as the respective top officers of the Navy and Air Force. Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney was also promoted to general and confirmed as the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps.
The Marine Corps lacks a confirmed assistant commandant due to ongoing gridlock in the Senate.
"We don't take an oath to a religion. We don't take an oath to a king, or queen, or tyrant, or dictator. And we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator," Gen. Mark Milley said today.
Gen. Randy George and Gen. Eric Smith will now formally take over leadership of the Army and Marine Corps, respectively.
A breakthrough in a blockade on military confirmations came after the Senate’s top Democrat moved to hold individual votes for Brown, as well as Army and Marine Corps leaders.
“I’d go so far as say if you drive north of the National Cathedral on Connecticut Avenue, that popping sound you hear is not stray gunfire. It is champagne corks at the Chinese embassy bouncing off the walls,” Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly said.
Service officials hope that Congress will back Secretary Frank Kendall’s proposal to allow some new programs to begin early work, even if a continuing resolution is in place.
Lt. Gen. Jim Slife will become the Air Force vice chief — if he can get past a confirmation blockade that has stalled out nominations in Congress.
With both versions of the NDAA complete, congressional leadership must now pick conferees for each chamber to sort out two vastly different defense policy bills.
Chollet is currently working in the State Department but has previous experience inside the Pentagon and the White House.
Beyond politics, the Air Force Secretary weighed in on key items in the defense budget, citing concerns about potential cuts to NGAD funding and unnecessary bumps to an alternate F-35 engine.
President Joe Biden has tapped Lt. Gen. James Mingus to succeed George as the next Army vice chief of staff, but a political logjam has drawn a cloud over the entire confirmation process.