President Biden of the United States has appointed a female admiral to lead the United States Navy, marking the first time a woman has been nominated to manage a Pentagon military service branch.
Lisa Franchetti is a former commander of the United States Sixth Fleet and US naval forces in South Korea, as well as an aircraft carrier strike commander.
Mr. Biden’s candidature must yet be ratified by the US Senate.
To protest a military abortion policy, one legislator is currently preventing the Senate from confirming military leaders.
If confirmed as Chief of Naval Operations, she will be the first woman to join the Joint Chiefs of Staff, an elite group of senior military officers.
She was just the second woman to earn the rank of four-star admiral after 38 years of service.
Mr. Biden praised her “extensive expertise in both the operational and policy arenas” in a statement, saying she “will again make history” if confirmed for the position.
According to US media reports, Adm Franchetti was not the first choice of US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who nominated TOPGUN graduate Samuel Paparo as the future Navy head.
Mr. Biden also elevated Adm. Paparo, naming him commander of US military forces in the Pacific.
Admiral Linda Fagan currently leads the United States Coast Guard, however that military arm reports to the Department of Homeland Security rather than the Department of Defence.
When the present chief’s four-year term ends in the autumn, Adm Franchetti will take over. She will, however, begin in an acting position because it is unlikely that she will be confirmed fast by the split Senate.
Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville is now preventing the Senate from confirming more than 270 military promotions due to a Pentagon regulation that reimburses service members who must fly out of state for abortions.
Mr. Biden slammed the senator in his remarks, stating, “What Senator Tuberville is doing is not only wrong—it is dangerous.”
“He is jeopardising our ability to ensure that the United States Armed Forces remain the world’s greatest fighting force,” he continued. And his Republican colleagues in the Senate are well aware of it.”
