Admiral Lisa Franchetti was appointed by the US President on Friday to head naval operations, the highest post in the US Navy. Once her appointment is confirmed by the Senate, the admiral will be the first woman to lead this army corps in its 247 years of existence.
As such, Lisa Franchetti will also serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which will also be a first as no woman has ever served at the highest military institution in the United States. The soldier is only “the second woman in the United States to achieve the rank of four-star admiral,” President Joe Biden reported in a press release hailing her career leading a guided-missile destroyer, a destroyer squadron and two aircraft carrier intervention groups.
An inconvenient senator
However, the appointment of Admiral Franchetti must be approved by the Senate, where a number of appointments of high-ranking military and diplomatic officials have been stalled due to blockages by Republican senators.
This is the case, for example, with the command 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” that endangers national security, President Biden condemned.
Key positions blocked in embassies
Among the powers of the United States Senate, you can find the approval of the nominations that the President of the United States has decided that they are ministerial, military, diplomatic or judicial.
The highest officials go through committee hearings, but many of these appointments are approved in bulk without a vote. However, a senator can block it to advance a particular cause. American diplomacy is not to be outdone, as another Republican senator, Rand Paul, blocks nearly sixty appointments, including 34 ambassadorial posts.
“Key positions in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon remain without an ambassador-designate,” the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, gushed last week. At issue in this case: Senator Paul is asking for documents on the origin of Covid-19.
