GOP Senators Fire Pentagon Policy Official Over Information Sharing
Several Republican senators criticized the Defense Department’s policy office and its head for not informing the Senate Armed Services Committee of key decisions, including the withdrawal of some U.S. troops from Romania and withholding some aid to Ukraine.
“It appears to us that some of the big decisions coming out of the Pentagon policy shop are undermining what the president is trying to accomplish,” said Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska).
Sullivan and other Republican senators criticized Austin Dahmer, the nominee for assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans and capabilities, during a confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominees for the Department of Defense on Tuesday. If Dahmer is confirmed, he will report to Elbridge Colby, the undersecretary of defense for policy, who lawmakers have said is nearly impossible to reach.
“You know who’s the hardest person to reach in the Trump administration? The undersecretary of defense for policy. I hope he’s watching. I’ll meet with him tomorrow. Maybe he’ll cancel my presence. I don’t know,” Sullivan said Tuesday.
This frustration among lawmakers, including Democrats, represents the latest example of tensions between Capitol Hill and the Defense Department during Trump’s second term.
A Defense Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to The Hill that Colby would meet with Sullivan on Wednesday.
In addition to Dahmer, the committee hearing on Tuesday included Robert Kadlec, who was selected to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Deterrence and Chemical and Biological Defense Policy and Programs, and Michael Borders Jr., nominated to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations and Environment.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mo.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, echoed Sullivan’s view and criticized the Pentagon’s policy office for what he described as a lack of information sharing.
Wicker said the committee has a “relatively positive relationship” with the Pentagon, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, but the policy office is a different matter.
“I was disappointed to find one exception to this friendliness,” Wicker said Tuesday. “Members and staff of this committee have struggled to obtain information from the Policy Office and have been unable to consult in a meaningful way with the Office, whether on the National Defense Strategy or the Global Posture Review.”
The Mississippi Republican said he did not face this problem during Trump’s first term, adding that “the current situation needs to improve if we want to formulate the best defense policy.”
Senators pointed to several decisions made by Colby’s office during Tuesday’s hearing, saying they were not notified of the changes in defense policy.
The changes include last week’s move to withdraw a rotational brigade from Romania, the Defense Department’s review of the AUKUS submarine agreement and the Pentagon’s halting of some shipments to Ukraine earlier this year, the lawmakers said.
Dahmer claimed that Congress had been briefed three times on the US decision to withdraw the brigade from Romania, an assertion that was met with skepticism from GOP senators.
“That has not been done to our knowledge. I just checked with majority and minority staff, and the information I have is that it was not communicated,” Wicker told Dahmer.
When asked where he got this information, Dahmer said he got it from the Department of Defense’s legislative affairs arm.
Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) added: “I think we would all like more information about how the decision was made.”
Dahmer said Romania was notified before the troop withdrawal was publicly revealed, but when asked by Scott when the European country was told, he said he didn’t know and vowed to follow up with the Florida Republican.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, described Colby’s office as a “pig pen-like mess,” citing news reports.
Dahmer responded by saying there was a lot of “fake news” and “a lot of inaccurate reporting.”
Democrats on the committee mirrored the frustration of their Republican colleagues, also criticizing the policy office for a lack of urgency in getting matters to the Legislature.
Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) added: “We see no urgency to communicate advance congressional release of the National Defense Strategy, and we are the co-equal branch of Title I,” referring to the National Defense Strategy (NDS).
Typically issued every four years, the NDS outlines major threats to U.S. national security, sets priorities for adapting the military to new technologies and serves as a guide on where to deploy U.S. forces around the world.
Updated: 4:40 p.m
