It’s been eight months since President Barack Obama nominated Eric Fanning to become Secretary of the Army — the first openly gay man to be recommended to that branch’s highest ranking civilian position. Senate Republicans have successfully blocked many of President Obama’s appointees since they took control from the Democrats in 2015.
Mr. Fanning has stood out because there are few questions about his qualifications, but he is being held up by just one senator. If confirmed, Mr. Fanning will be the highest-ranking openly gay Pentagon official. Standing in the way of that happening is Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas.
Roberts has placed a hold on his nomination, insisting that the Obama administration tell him that it will not move any detainees from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to Fort Leavenworth, KS.
Although few administration officials believe the base is a viable option, the Obama administration has balked at giving Mr. Roberts any assurances. Roberts said on the Senate floor late last month:
“Let me be very clear on this — as a veteran, a Marine — I support Mr. Eric Fanning for this post. If the White House calls and assures me that terrorists held at Guantanamo will not come to Ft. Leavenworth, I will release the hold – immediately.”
White House officials suggested Roberts is grandstanding, with White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest telling reporters in a press briefing last month:
“It is hard to imagine that Senator Roberts takes this particularly seriously. You may recall the last time that anybody has talked about Senator Roberts was when he filmed a video of himself crumbling up the president’s plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and throwing it in a wastebasket.”
“So maybe he relishes the opportunity to be before the camera, but it’s not apparent that he takes this critically important national security issue all that seriously.”
Roberts, who has represented Kansas for nearly two decades, and lawmakers from Colorado and South Carolina, have been vocal in objecting to moving Guantanamo detainees to their states. However, Roberts took his opposition a step further by injecting his amendment into the fray by saying:
“With this hold, I have used one of the tools afforded to me as a U.S. Senator, and I will continue to do everything in my power to fulfill my obligations to protect the national security of the United States. It is what Kansans expect and demand of me.”
Mr. Fanning’s nomination is being closely watched by many in the gay community. Senior Pentagon officials are studying how to incorporate transgender people into the services. Many in the gay community are concerned about why the process has taken so long.
Chad Griffin, chairman of The Human Rights Campaign , a gay advocacy group, expressed his concern by saying:
“What’s baffling about this is that Eric has bipartisan support from all corners and nobody disputes his qualifications, record of service or leadership, which is rare in such a high-profile job.”
Although he never served in the military, Mr. Fanning has served in high-level jobs in three services. He started out of college as a low-level staff member on the House Armed Services Committee.
Over the next decade, Mr. Fanning worked at CBS as a foreign news editor for a private strategic communications firm, and as an executive at a national security think tank. In 2008, he took a job as the Deputy Director of a commission studying the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Since then, he has served in a series of senior Pentagon positions — Deputy under secretary of the Navy, and acting Secretary of the Air Force, under then First Chief of Staff, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter.
So there you have it. Although immensely qualified to fill the position, Eric Fanning is being used as a political pawn in the never ending quest to diminish this president’s legacy – no matter how noble or historic his actions are meant to be.
Featured image Michael Key/ Washington Blade, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
