Remember Tuberville’s General/Flag Officer Hold?

Senator Tuberville, R-Ala

Sen. Tommy Tuberville spent most of 2023 blocking the blanket confirmation of senior military officer nominees. This action was in protest to the Pentagon’s policy covering travel expenses and providing leave for service members seeking abortions, so he demanded an individual vote on each nominee. He relented in December of that year and the en-masse confirmations began immediately.

The howls and gnashing of teeth during the lull was epic with claims of readiness concerns, loss of leadership experience, unfair financial burdens on military families, and perhaps worst of all tying up the Senate’s calendar for months. So how did all that work out?

GAO Report on Senate Holds on Flag, General Officers

The following is the May 15, 2025, Government Accountability Office report, Military Generals and Admirals: Information on the Effects of Senate Nomination Blanket Holds.
U.S. Naval Institute Staff
Why This Matters

Generals and admirals, known as general and flag officers (GFO), are the senior military leaders within the Department of Defense (DOD) who plan and implement U.S. military operations, among other things. For example, GFOs include the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Senate, in its capacity to give advice and consent to the President on appointing officers of the United States, routinely considers and votes whether to approve nominations for positions including GFOs. When a Senator objects to a category of nominations, such as all GFOs, this is known as a “blanket hold.”

On two occasions in 2020 and 2023, all nominations for GFOs were on a blanket hold from Senate confirmation. While the 2020 blanket hold was in effect for about 2 weeks, the 2023 hold lasted approximately 10 months. Senior leaders within DOD, including the Secretary of Defense at the time and a group of former Secretaries of Defense who served in bipartisan administrations, expressed concerns that the nomination hold in 2023 posed a risk to national security and the well-being of military families, among other things.

You asked us to review issues surrounding past holds on GFO nominations. This report describes effects on military readiness, leadership continuity, nominated officers, and military families as a result of past Senate blanket holds on GFO nominations, as well as steps DOD took to mitigate the effects of the holds.

Key Takeaways

• The 2023 Senate blanket hold on GFO nominations lasted for approximately 10 months and affected 447 individual GFO nominees.
• During the 2023 hold, DOD senior leaders expressed concerns about risks to national security. The 2023 hold on GFO nominations affected DOD’s leadership continuity across the department. Our review of readiness documentation and data did not identify challenges for unit-level readiness.
• The 2023 hold disrupted the military promotion cycle for some officers, which affected nominated officers’ eligibility for promotions and pay. Effects on military families varied based on individual circumstances. DOD officials cited military families’ inability to move to planned duty stations, enroll children at their next schools on time, and seek new spousal employment opportunities as financial and personal challenges stemming from the hold.
• DOD mitigated potential operational effects of the 2023 hold by proceeding with planned assignments for some officers, deferring retirements, and having senior civilian executives and officers serve in acting capacities to ensure continuity of operations.

USNI

All the Strum und Drang over the nomination holds and the only real issue, other than elevating Biden’s policy on government funded abortions, was some three-star’s spouse had to wait on a move while updating the old resume. Cry me a river.

The policy has since been rescinded, so there’s that.
AP News

Category: Big Pentagon, Politics