WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that troop readiness and retention is at risk as the Army’s chief stepped down Friday, leaving the military’s two ground combat forces without Senate-confirmed leaders for the first time in history.
Speaking during a ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Austin said the Senate’s failure to confirm the services’ new leaders is disruptive to the force and could impact relationships with allies and partners around the globe.
One thing the Pentagon doesn’t mention is that there are already people who will be the acting leaders so they are not leadership. Someone is still doing the job, they just have the word acting in front of their title.
“Actings” generally can do some but not all of the things that a confirmed candidate can do.
I think that is a very broad assumption.
All the services mentioned have acting leadership that has been selected by the president. If for some reason the acting person can’t perform the duty, they can ask their boss (the president), which has already nominated them, for authorization.
No it’s not how things should work but there is actually very limited (if any) impact to the armed services. Note that the Pentagon hasn’t mentioned what it is not able to do just that the branches are without approved leaders. The messaging is just there so the DoD can be in line with the messaging their boss, President Biden, is sending out.