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Tom Cotton Condemns 'Questionable' Judgment of Ex-Obama Navy Secretary

Trump pick pledges not to use service as a 'petri dish'

July 11, 2017

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) told President Donald Trump's Navy secretary nominee on Tuesday that he faced the difficult task of restoring the service's credibility given the "strange judgment" exerted by Obama nominee Ray Mabus.

Cotton said Mabus, who stepped down as Navy secretary in January, ranked as one of the most unpopular secretaries in modern history given a series of "questionable" decisions, including naming military ships after controversial figures such as labor leader Cesar Chavez and removing the word "man" from job titles to promote gender equality.

Trump's pick for Navy secretary, Richard Spencer, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday as part of the chamber's confirmation process. If confirmed, Spencer would succeed Mabus.

Mabus often drew criticism from congressional Republicans who charged him with politicizing the Navy through several social reforms over his eight-year tenure, the longest of any Navy head since World War I. Notably, Mabus integrated women into all ground combat roles, including the Navy SEALs, despite opposition from special operators.

"I think it is unfortunate that you've inherited this legacy and it's going to make it somewhat hard when you start out to restore the credibility of the secretariat," Cotton told Spencer after ticking off several controversial provisions put forth by Mabus:

He politicized the naming of U.S. Navy ships, he made some very strange changes to the Navy uniform that caused a revolt among female sailors, and publicly dismissed official reports about combat effectiveness of mixed-gender units, without even having to read them by his own admission. He dumped the Navy’s ratings titles, some of which—like boatswain’s mate and gunnery’s mate—had been around for 200 years. He’s tried to power Navy fleets with unproven, expensive, and inadequate fuel alternatives based on current technology and in some cases to the cost of $28 dollars to the gallon. And he questioned the character and integrity of Marines who dared to disagree with some of these policies.

In response, Spencer pledged to never use the service as a "petri dish for social experiments" and said he would leave it up to the Trump administration to implement substantial reform.

"I totally believe that policy should be developed at the [Department of Defense] level and then discussed and socialized and deployed and then obeyed," he testified.

Published under: Military , Navy