President Trump’s nominee to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John D. Caine, faced the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday. That gave Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan five minutes to ask, in public, anything of the man likely to soon be the nation’s most senior military officer.
Sullivan called out what he sees as the liberal agenda of the Biden administration's appointees.
“I think the military was politicized in a huge way, particularly from the civilian leaders who were pushing left-wing theories on the military, pushing climate change over ship-building,” Sullivan said. “The undersecretary for policy came before this committee and told us that our military is, quote, systemically racist. It's ridiculous, right? Do you believe our military is systemically racist?”
Sullivan often disparages the idea that the military is imbued with institutional discrimination. He spent some time on it at Caine’s hearing. The nominee had only to provide the briefest response:
“No, senator.”
Confirmation hearings can reveal a lot, and not just about the nominees. They are ostensibly a chance for senators to ask nominees about their background, policy views and how they intend to fulfill the duties of the position. That does happen. But senators often use these proceedings not to extract information but to deliver it — to the nominee, to other senators and to the C-SPAN-viewing public. Sullivan sticks mostly to the second mode.
At this hearing, Sullivan’s point about liberal agendas served as a bit of counterprogramming, since it was interspersed between Democratic senators asking Caine what he’d do if Trump tried to use the military against civilians or to carry out domestic political goals.
Sullivan quickly moved on to a topic any regular observer of these proceedings knew was coming.
“I'm not going to let this hearing go by without a famous quote from the father of the U.S. Air Force, Billy Mitchell, who was talking about a certain place in the world,” Sullivan said, leading Caine down a rhetorical path that he’s taken with many prior nominees. “He said, Whoever controls this place, controls the world. It is the most strategic place in the world. What place was Billy Mitchell talking about, General?”
Caine knew the answer: Alaska.
“You agree with Billy Mitchell's incredibly insightful analysis?” Sullivan continued.
“Mitchell was a brilliant air power …,” Caine started to say, but Sullivan wanted to hear just one word.
“That's a yes, I assume you're saying?” he pressed.
Caine took the hint: “Yes, sir.”
Sullivan raises Billy Mitchell to argue for more military assets in Alaska. He spoke at the hearing of repeated Russian and Chinese incursions in the North Pacific, near Alaska. He talked about the value of re-opening the military base at Adak. He also made a plug for 8(a) contracting. The 8(a) program allows the federal government to sign sole-source contracts with certain types of businesses, and some Alaska Native Corporations have done well with it.
When Sullivan’s five minutes in the Armed Services Committee were up he moved on to another confirmation hearing, in the Veterans Affairs Committee. There he raised another issue he’s passionate about — capping attorneys’ fees for law firms representing Marines exposed to toxic drinking water at Camp Lejeune. Sullivan grew frustrated as the nominee to be general counsel for the VA, James Baehr, equivocated.
“I think the issue of representation and making sure that folks have aggressive representation, helping them …” Baehr began.
“You're getting ready to lose my vote here,” Sullivan interjected. “That's the wrong answer.”
Sen. Angus King’s turn came next. King, I-Maine, said the discussion about fine points of veterans policy seemed like playing music on the deck of the Titanic, given that the Trump administration has fired thousands of employees at the VA and intends to fire tens of thousands more.
“And we've got the (VA) secretary telling us that this is going to produce better service,” King said. “I don't think that passes the straight-face test.”
He said the committee should quit considering nominees until they get answers from the department about how the firings and cancelled government contracts are going to impact service to veterans.
But, for the most part, nominees before the Armed Services and the Veterans committees did not face stiff opposition, so confirmation is likely.
