Senate must 'change the rules now' to prevent future Tubervilles: national security analyst

Days after US Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) lifted his ten-month-long military blockade on over 400 promotions, political and national security analyst Amy McGrath argues "the Senate needs to change the rules now to make sure that no senator is ever able to do again what Tuberville has done and is doing."

She writes, "His continued obstruction damages our military integrity, it weakens our national security and, ultimately, puts our country at greater risk," and "The damage that he has already done can only be mitigated by new Senate rules that guarantee no other senator follows his lead."

Furthermore, the Alabama lawmaker "has set a dangerous precedent that will most certainly corrupt our military's leadership," McGrath notes.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

The former fighter pilot and US Marine Corps combat veteran writes, "On the surface, his new tactic of just holding up the promotions of such high-ranking military officers may seem better than his continuing to force such uncertainty onto hundreds of senior ranking officers, their families and U.S. military units around the world," and "While it's true that the vast majority of these officers will receive their promotions, we should not be deluded."

She emphasizes "it would be a mistake to cheer his release of his destructive 'hold' on the promotions of these generals and admirals."

McGrath suggests, "the Senate could adopt a rule that only lets a senator block one senior-ranking military promotion at a time, and even then only for a limited amount of time before that nomination gets an up or down vote."

She writes:

Imagine a senator making it known that he wants the Army to buy a certain weapons system that's manufactured in his state and saying to an officer, 'You want to be a 4-star someday, go push the Army to make that acquisition.' Even if just one or two generals are held up consistently, it will open the real possibility of severe corruption. Officers will be constantly worried that they have to please each of the 100 senators, instead of doing what’s best for their troops and the mission. Standing up for women, minority or LGBTQ service members under their command, for example, could be considered 'too woke' for certain senators.

McGrath emphasizes, "That's why the Senate needs to immediately change its rules to ensure that this type of unpatriotic and destructive hold on military promotions never happens again."

READ MORE:

McGrath's full op-ed is available here.