Tuberville’s hold on military promotions is impacting troop readiness, Mullen says

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• Amna Nawaz:

  The Constitution assigns to the Senate the power to approve the president's nominations of officers of the United States.

  That includes general and flag officers at the Defense Department. But, this year, one senator has held up all the promotions, including to some of the highest jobs in the military.

  Nick Schifrin has the story.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Near an entrance to the Pentagon, photos of the Joint Chiefs graced the wall, at least the Joint Chiefs whose positions are full. Those three black boxes represent the officers supposed to leave the Army, Navy and Marines. None have been confirmed by the Senate.

  But it's not just three military services. The Pentagon says 301 officers are waiting to be confirmed, among them, the commanders of United States Space Command, Northern Command and Cyber Command and most of the senior commanders in the Pacific who deal with China, the Indo-Pacific commander and commanders of the Pacific Fleet, Pacific Air Forces, Pacific Submarine Forces and Pacific Special Operations.

  Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville has imposed a nomination block. He opposes the new Department of Defense policy that pays for the transportation of service members who cross from states that don't allow abortions to states that do.

• Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL):

  This is really about a taxpayers having to pay for something to do with abortion. National security is not a problem here, because you don't change your position just because somebody's not promoted. Somebody stays there until the promotion is done.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says it does threaten national security.

  Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of Defense: This sweeping hole is undermining America's military readiness. It's hindering our ability to retain our very best officers. And it is upending the lives of far too many American military families.

• Nick Schifrin:

  So what impact is the hold on nominations having on the military and their ability to do their jobs?

  For that, we turn to retired Admiral Mike Mullen, who was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations.

  Admiral Mullen, thanks very much. Welcome back to the "NewsHour."

  What difference does it make if a military commander is confirmed by the Senate, as opposed to the job being filled by an acting officer who's not confirmed?

  Adm. Michael Mullen (RET.), Former Joints Chiefs Chairman: I think confirmation really is the gold standard for legitimizing individuals in these leadership positions.

  And it's been that way for over 100 years. So, that's a really important part of this. I think, if I were to put this in possibly something that the senator would understand, is, if I were an acting head football coach, nobody would really know how long I was going to be there, would somebody really follow me? How could I recruit? Would my players stay? And would it really impact over a period of time my ability to win?

  A lot of that is the same thing with respect to our leadership. I mean, we depend on leaders in our military in everything that we do. And having somebody that is a permanent leader, confirmed by the Senate, is very much a part of our background and what we need out in the field in the fleet right now.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Senator Tuberville and his aides argue this, that there are actually no vacancies, that each job is filled, even with an acting officer, and that officer is highly experienced.

  And, for example, the acting chief Naval officer said last week the Navy was undisrupted and unabated, despite the fact that she is in an acting position. What's your response to that?

• Adm. Michael Mullen:

  Certainly, that would be the position that she would take. And, as a leader, she would want to say that.

  In fact, she is one of what is now three and soon to be four Joint Chiefs who will be acting without certainty about when they will be confirmed. And when you're an acting leader, quite frankly, can you lay out a new strategy? Can you lay out a new plan, per se?

  And I would argue that you can't. And it's — historically, in Washington, quite frankly, that term of acting is one that is of concern, because people are not really sure if you're going to be there. And you're not really sure until you go through this confirmation process, which has been proven time and time again.

• Nick Schifrin:

  What's the practical impact, say, for example, what we highlighted earlier in the Pacific, where many of the senior leaders are not confirmed, in terms of planning for a possible conflict with China or if that conflict were actually to start?

• Adm. Michael Mullen:

  I think the senator is actually doing this at one of the most critical times in our history.

  We're at a real inflection point with respect to the Pacific and China and Taiwan and the South China Sea and also war in Europe. And so impacting our readiness, impacting our leadership at this particular time is, from my perspective, irresponsible.

  And the longer this takes, the longer we wait, the more it will impact. So these leaders won't be in place. And, in every case, there won't be someone who will — will easily stay, if you will. And, in addition to the incredible disruption in families, with kids going to school, with spouses trying to figure out how to continue to work in a new location, and get settled in a new home, it really significantly impacts the people who sacrifice a lot.

  They're very patriotic. They're privileged to do it in what is a hard life. And this just makes it a lot harder.

• Nick Schifrin:

  That personal impact is something that we all have heard about as well.

  You talk to folks in the military all the time. And, of course, they have to be respectful of civilian leadership. But what is their perception at this point of these holds?

• Adm. Michael Mullen:

  Well, one of the concerns is that the senator is politicizing — further politicizing the military, at a time when the military is a trusted institution, is degrading in that trust, if you will, with respect to the American people, in great part because of the politics that are going on in Washington.

  And I think the senator, he can make his point about abortion and have that debate. I think that's really important. That said, keep us out of it. We need to be apolitical and stay out of the political fights. And he's putting us — when he says on the one hand it would be very bad to politicize the military, that's exactly what he's doing.

• Nick Schifrin:

  And, quickly, Admiral, just in the 30 seconds or so I have left, what is the military's plan on how to deal with this hold, if it continues?

• Adm. Michael Mullen:

  Well, we will plow through it.

  There's no question there. And we will do the best we can. I just think it's going to be — it will diminish readiness. Oftentimes, readiness gets reflected in the face of a crisis or a really tragic accident, and people wonder, who is accountable for this, what happened when readiness degrades?

  And, in fact, will anybody at any time hold Senator Tuberville accountable for any bad outcomes with respect to the holes that he is actually generating?

• Nick Schifrin:

  Retired Admiral Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, thank you very much.

• Adm. Michael Mullen:

  Thanks, Nick.