Tuberville Holds Up Promotion of Austin's Top Aide over Hospitalization Secrecy

Lt. Gen. Ronald Clark's promotion to lead Army forces in the Pacific and receive a fourth star is being held up in the Senate by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., the senator and his office confirmed Tuesday.

Tuberville is attributing the move to concerns over what role Clark, who currently serves as the senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, may have played in the initial secrecy surrounding Austin's hospitalization earlier this year.

"He should have been the one that told the White House and commander in chief, 'We got a problem, the secretary of defense is in the hospital in pretty bad shape.' But he didn't and so that's a show of non-leadership," Tuberville told reporters Tuesday. His office also provided a statement to Military.com confirming the hold.

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The hold, first reported by The Washington Post, pauses Clark's career and once again revives the controversy and unanswered questions over Austin's choice to keep a critical medical diagnosis and subsequent hospitalization a secret from all but his inner circle.

When asked about Tuberville's move on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder urged the Senate to confirm all military nominees but stressed that Clark was a highly qualified officer.

"He's exactly the kind of leader that we need in our priority theater," Ryder said, also noting that Clark "was nominated for this critical position because of his expertise and his strategic level experience."

While Clark is not a highly visible military officer, he is notable because he was Austin's senior military assistant when the defense secretary underwent elective prostate cancer surgery on Dec. 22. Then, a week later, Austin was admitted to intensive care after he developed severe complications.

None of that information was made public or conveyed to the White House for days.

In the days following the Pentagon's public acknowledgment of the hospitalization, it became clear that a group of officials close to Austin knew about the hospitalization but waited days to inform President Joe Biden, Congress and the American people.

Pentagon spokesman Ryder told reporters in the days that followed that a series of issues -- including Austin's chief of staff coming down with the flu and his own failure to ask follow-up questions -- were to blame for the public and key government officials being unaware the defense secretary was sidelined at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland.

The incident sparked a pair of investigations, as well.

One was ordered by Kelly Magsamen, Austin's then-chief of staff and one of the key people who appeared to be at fault for the White House, Congress and the National Security Council being left in the dark. It found that there was no "indication of ill intent or an attempt to obfuscate" -- a conclusion that outraged congressional Republicans.

Magsamen resigned from her position in June, but Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters her departure had nothing to do with the incident but rather that she had "earned some well-deserved time off."

A separate investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general, launched in January, appears to still be ongoing.

Tuberville said he is awaiting the results of the IG investigation to see what it says about Clark's role in the incident. Whether he lifts his hold after the IG report is released depends on its findings, the senator said.

"If it comes out and says, 'He did it for this reason,' and I disagree with it, well, we're not going to let him have that promotion," Tuberville said. "I got an open mind. I got nothing against him. We need a strong military. We're in tough times right now, and I hate that we have to do this. But come on, get the IG report and get it out and let us look at it."

The move by Tuberville has echoes of a similar block the Alabama senator placed on all general and admiral promotions in the military for most of 2023, eventually holding up more than 450 officers. Tuberville was attempting to force the Pentagon to reverse its policy of covering travel and leave for service members who seek reproductive care, including abortions.

Amid growing pressure from fellow Republicans, Democrats and military families, Tuberville dropped the blockade in December without winning any change to the abortion policy he was protesting.

His latest hold differs in that it is targeted at a single nominee over an issue specifically tied to the nominee, rather than a blanket hold over a political issue the nominees have no say in.

But the hold still elicited frustration from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I.

"Lt. Gen. Clark is a very distinguished Army officer, and he has been evaluated by his superiors and considered qualified for the job," Reed told reporters Tuesday. "I don't think there's any deleterious information against him. I think he should be confirmed. This is another hold not based on the quality of the individual military person, but a political agenda."

Clark's nomination was advanced out of the Senate Armed Services Committee in July, two weeks after the nomination was sent over by the White House. While a hold cannot prevent a nominee from being confirmed, it means the Senate cannot approve the promotion under the fast-track procedures it normally uses for military officers and must employ its limited floor time for procedural votes on the nomination.

Asked whether the Senate would vote around Tuberville's hold to confirm Clark, Reed did not rule out the possibility.

"I think we have to get him confirmed because, again, playing politics with military promotions is not appropriate," Reed said.

When asked how long Gen. Charles Flynn, the man Clark is slated to replace, can remain at his post as the commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific, Ryder said he didn't want to "get into timelines."

"We as a military are used to managing leadership of our commands throughout the world," Ryder added.

Related: 'What You've Done Is Embarrass Us': Republicans Rip into Austin at First Hearing Since Hospitalization