Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville said Tuesday he plans to block the nomination of an aide to Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III for a top Army post because of his role in leaking information about Austin’s hospitalization in December and January.
President Joe Biden nominated Lt. Gen. Ronald P. Clark to the rank of general in July and appointed him commander of U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter, Hawaii. Clark is currently the highest-ranking military assistant to the secretary of defense.
However, Tuberville expressed concerns about Clark’s involvement in the decision to delay notifying the White House and lawmakers when Austin was hospitalized for treatment for prostate cancer.
“He should have been the one to tell the White House and the commander in chief, ‘We have a problem; the secretary of defense is in the hospital and in pretty bad shape,'” Tuberville told reporters. “But he didn’t. And that’s a sign of a lack of leadership.”
Following his diagnosis in early December, Austin underwent a prostatectomy on December 22 without informing the president, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, members of Congress, or the public. He was hospitalized again on January 1 due to complications from the earlier procedure.
During his January hospitalization, Austin spent time in intensive care, and some of his duties were transferred to Hicks on Jan. 2. Hicks, who was vacationing in Puerto Rico at the time, did not learn that Austin had been hospitalized until Jan. 4. The White House also was not aware of Austin’s condition until days after he was hospitalized.
The incident sparked a sharp bipartisan response, and Austin assured lawmakers at a House Armed Services Committee hearing in February that the Pentagon had implemented new procedures to prevent future communications breakdowns.
“Lt. Gen. Clark knew Secretary Austin was incapacitated and did not communicate it to the Commander in Chief. As a senior officer, Lt. Gen. Clark is required by his oath to notify the President when the chain of command is compromised,” Tuberville spokeswoman Mallory Jaspers said in a statement Tuesday. “Senator Tuberville is awaiting the upcoming IG report.”
The Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General is in the midst of an investigation into the department’s reporting procedures and delegation of command process. It is unclear when that work will be completed.
Tuberville gave no guarantee that he would lift his suspension once the IG report is released. The Washington Post was the first to report on the suspension.
“If it comes out and it says, ‘He did it for this reason,’ and I don’t agree with it, we’re not going to give him that promotion. We’re not going to do that,” he said. “But I’m open-minded. We need a strong military; we’re going through difficult times right now. I hate that we have to do this. But come on, get the IG report and get it out. Let’s look at it.”
An earlier internal Defense Department review released in late February found no “evidence of malice or an attempt at cover-up” regarding the matter. It said privacy considerations “restricted” Austin’s staff from receiving and sharing information about his medical condition. The department can seemingly be absolved of any wrongdoing in the situation.
A three-page unclassified summary of that investigation indicated that the highest-ranking military aide was involved in passing information about Austin’s hospitalization to the rest of the team.
Although Clark was not mentioned by name in the summary, it said that on January 2, the senior military aide informed Austin’s chief of staff and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Austin’s stay at Walter Reed and the subsequent transfer of command to Hicks. It further said that the senior military aide informed the assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs of Austin’s hospitalization.
The Senate Armed Services Committee recommended Clark’s nomination by voice vote in late July before going into recess for the August recess. Clark’s promotion still has to be considered in the full House.
Tuberville’s colleague in the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), told reporters he was still waiting for more information from the Biden administration on the incident, but declined to comment on the candidate.
“I also have issues with how the Department of Defense handled Austin’s departure and hospitalization for a few days, and we expect some answers on that,” he said Tuesday. “As for that particular lieutenant general and his promotion, I haven’t investigated his role in that, so I don’t really have an opinion on that.”
Jack Reed, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, praised Clark on Tuesday as a “very well-respected Army officer” against whom “there is no incriminating information.” He also signaled that he was open to the idea of using his speaking time to push through Clark’s nomination.
“I think we need to get him confirmed because it is not appropriate to play politics with military promotions,” he told reporters. “They should be based on the qualities of the individual.”
Tuberville’s move could reignite partisan rancor over a 10-month nomination freeze that blocked more than 400 military promotions last year. Tuberville eventually dropped his opposition in protest of the Pentagon’s policy of reimbursing travel expenses for military personnel who must travel to other states for abortions, amid bipartisan pressure in December 2023.
The Pentagon warned that stopping the candidate could be damaging.
“We call on the Senate to confirm all of our qualified nominees, and as we have already seen, such reticence can truly undermine our military readiness,” Pentagon press secretary and Air Force Major General Pat Ryder said Tuesday.
Mark Satter contributed to this report.
