(avoid NYT reg hassle)
June 9, 2003
Senator Blocks 850 Air Force Promotions
By ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON, June 8 Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho is blocking the promotions
of more than 850 Air Force officers, including young pilots who fought in Iraq
and the general nominated to bail out the scandal-plagued United States Air
Force Academy, in a rare clash between the Pentagon and a senior Republican
lawmaker.
Mr. Craig's price to free the frozen promotions now awaiting final Senate
approval? Four C-130 cargo planes for the Idaho Air National Guard.
Pentagon officials express outrage that for more than a month Mr. Craig has
single-handedly delayed the careers of hundreds of officers and stymied
important Air Force business for a handful of parochial planes. They are vowing
not to give in to his pressure. Calling the move blackmail, one senior military
official said, "If we say yes to this, Katie bar the door." The official, like
others contacted for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing
retribution from the senator.
But Mr. Craig contends that the Air Force has reneged on a promise made seven
years ago to station a squadron of eight C-130's at Gowen Field, an Air
National Guard base in Boise, his spokesman said. There are now four C-130's
and another training aircraft based there. "This is a problem created by the
Air Force that can be easily solved by the Air Force," Will Hart, the
spokesman, said.
In the courtly world of the Senate, Mr. Craig's hardball tactics have angered
and frustrated even some of his Republican colleagues, including Senator John
W. Warner of Virginia, who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee and has
tried to mediate the dispute. The committee approved most of the promotions
weeks ago. Mr. Warner declined through a spokesman to comment.
Under a Senate practice intended to encourage consensus, any senator can block
action indefinitely and anonymously on a nomination, promotion or legislation.
These secret holds are used frequently by senators of both parties to express
displeasure not necessarily with a nominee but with an administration's action
or policy. But military promotions are typically whisked through the approval
process without objection. A former military official disclosed the dispute
over the planes to The New York Times.
Four years ago, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, then the majority leader,
blocked the final confirmation of Richard C. Holbrooke to be chief diplomat to
the United Nations. Mr. Lott's demand? That President Bill Clinton appoint a
conservative Ohio law school professor to the Federal Election Commission.
But in recent years, the anonymous holds have proliferated to the point where
some senators are pushing for new guidelines to identify any senator who delays
a nomination or promotion. The Senate Rules Committee, now led by Mr. Lott, has
scheduled a hearing on the issue for June 17.
Mr. Craig's action has been felt throughout the Air Force, from young captains
and majors to its senior ranks, where the promotions or new-job nominations for
more than two dozen generals are in a holding pattern with no end in sight.
Gen. Robert H. Foglesong, who has been picked to be commander of all American
air forces in Europe, is cooling his heels in Washington in his current job as
vice chief of staff of the Air Force.
Lt. Gen. T. Michael Moseley, who commanded allied air forces in the Iraq war,
is waiting to receive his fourth star and succeed General Foglesong as the vice
chief of staff.
Maj. Gen. John W. Rosa Jr. was tapped to pin on a third star and be in place as
the new superintendent of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs by last
month. But his assignment is still in limbo. Brig. Gen. John A. Weida, the
academy's commandant, is filling the position until General Rosa's promotion is
approved.
Military officials say to give in to Mr. Craig now would only invite more holds
from other senators.
"We obviously can't operate like that," another senior military official said.
"Idaho is a great state, but we can't put more planes in there without taking
them out of somewhere else."
Why after seven years Mr. Craig is exercising his Senate prerogative now to
delay these promotions is a bit of a mystery. The planes have not been a
pressing concern for most of his constituents.
"It's not something people here are tapping their fingers over, waiting for
them to show up," said Lt. Col. Tim Marsano, spokesman for the Idaho National
Guard.
Mr. Hart would say only that "Senator Craig's record of overwhelming support
for the military speaks for itself" and blamed the Air Force leadership for
disclosing his hold "as some sort of strategy to renege on promises made to
Senator Craig."
A buildup of the guard forces could help shield Gowen Field from a new round of
military base closings scheduled to be decided in 2005. Increasing the number
of C-130's at the field could make it a less attractive installation to close,
defense officials said. Gowen's C-130's returned in January from a tour in
Oman, where they supported operations in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf.
Several states are organizing committees to defend their military bases, which
provide jobs and lucrative Pentagon contracts to local communities. "What a lot
of people are trying to do is extort such-and-such a service at such-and-such a
base to BRAC-proof their base," one senior defense official said, using the
acronym for the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, which would recommend
such closings.
As for Mr. Craig, defense officials say their arguments have so far fallen on
deaf ears. "We've tried to explain the facts of life to Senator Craig that the
Air Force is getting smaller, not bigger," one official said.
Gen. John W. Handy of the Air Force, the head of United States Transportation
Command, which controls all transport aircraft, met with Mr. Craig in
Washington on May 23 to broker an end to the stalemate, but apparently to no
avail. Said one defense official, "Craig is essentially saying, pound sand."
― Jon Williams (ex machina), Monday, 9 June 2003 13:52 (twenty-two years ago)