(Washington) Joe Biden on Friday named Admiral Lisa Franchetti to head naval operations, the highest post in the US Navy which, if confirmed by the Senate, is expected to be held by a woman for the first time.
In this capacity, she will also serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which will also be a first, as no woman has ever served on the highest military institution in the United States.
The soldier is only “the second woman in the United States to obtain the rank of four-star admiral”, argued President Biden in a press release, saluting her career, she who commanded a guided missile destroyer, a squadron of destroyers and two aircraft carrier intervention groups.
The appointment of Admiral Franchetti will however have to be approved by the Senate where, precisely, a series of appointments of senior military and diplomatic officials are stranded due to blockages by Republican senators.
This is the case, for example, of the commander of the Marine Corps and dozens of other military posts blocked by Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville, who opposes a Pentagon policy of financial assistance to soldiers who must travel for abortions.
“What Senator Tuberville is doing is not only wrong, it’s dangerous” endangering national security, denounced President Biden.
Among the prerogatives of the American Senate, figure the approval of the appointments decided by the president of the United States that they are ministerial, military, diplomatic or judicial.
The most senior officials go through committee hearings but many of these appointments are approved in bulk, without a vote. A senator can however block it to advance a particular cause.
American diplomacy is not to be outdone since another Republican senator, Rand Paul, blocks nearly sixty appointments including 34 ambassadorial posts.
“Key positions in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon remain without an appointed ambassador,” the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, got carried away last week.
At issue in this case: Senator Paul is asking for documents on the origin of COVID-19.