Colin Kahl, President Joe Biden’s nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy, has a demonstrated temperament issue that calls his confirmation into question, Sen. Tom Cotton said Friday.
“The undersecretary of defense for policy is one of the most important jobs in the government, one of the most important jobs in the Department of Defense,” the Arkansas Republican said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” “[This is the] person that leads thousands of people to set national security policy for our nation.”
Kahl, though, “has been wrong about every major issue in recent times” and “has a long record of volatile outbursts of unbalanced rants against people who merely disagree with him. That’s not the kind of temperament we need in such a critical job in the Department of Defense.”
Kahl has come under fire for social media posts accusing the GOP of being the “party of ethnic cleansing” and claiming legislators who opposed the international nuclear deal with Iran “pushed” for war “for decades.”
Kahl testified, under questioning from Cotton Thursday, that there were a “number of positions” that former President Donald Trump took that he “strongly opposed” and he apologized for using language that was “sometimes disrespectful.”
Cotton said Friday that while he thinks it’s appropriate for Kahl to apologize, he didn’t need to do that, because the concern is not merely about “mean tweets.”
“This is about temperament,” said Cotton. “Most of these social media posts were happening in the middle of the night when he was sitting at home reading the news. If that’s his reaction under such conditions, just sitting at home reading the news, what will he be like in the Pentagon when Iran hijacks another American boat or China shoots down an American aircraft? I don’t think his temperament is suited to be an official at the top of defense.”
Cotton said he was also troubled by Kahl’s refusal Thursday to commit to the modernization of the nation’s nuclear forces, considering the threats posed by China and Russia, and by his being one of the “most vocal supporters” of the Iran nuclear deal.
“Those are two examples of where his judgments have been wrong and the way he expresses those judgments reflect a temperament not suited for this job,” said the senator.
Even with Democrats in control of the Senate, Cotton said there was a similar situation with Neera Tanden, Biden’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, and she ended up pulling out of consideration for the post.
“The job that he is up for is much more important than a job Tanden was nominated to, and it’s more important that job be held by someone level-headed and even-tempered,” Cotton said.
Source: Newmax
