Air Force general withdraws nomination to head Pacific Command

CongressDaily October 7, 2004

The Defense Department announced late Wednesday that Air Force Gen. Gregory Martin, commander of the Air Force Materiel Command, has requested that his nomination to head the U.S Pacific Command be withdrawn.

Earlier in the day, during Martin's confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., suggested the general had something to hide after the Pentagon bungled the committee's request to review some of Martin's internal e-mails associated with a controversial Air Force plan to acquire Boeing KC-767 tankers.

McCain, Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., and ranking member Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., are in the process of poring over thousands of internal Pentagon and White House e-mails associated with the multibillion dollar Boeing contract.

Last week the Justice Department began probing e-mails between two high-ranking government officials directly involved in the troubled tanker acquisition.

At the hearing, McCain questioned why the Air Force failed to provide the specified e-mails.

"We tried to get as a priority Gen. Martin's e-mails because of the urgency of this nomination. We haven't gotten it," McCain said. "Obviously, there is something going on about non-responsive e-mails."

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  • Or, maybe, just maybe, this General, who has spent most of his life in service to his country has had enough of a grandstanding Senator. While I respect what the Senator has done for his country, and the personal price he has paid, the fact is he is a little man with an attitude. He is convinced that it is his mission in life to correct some imagined wrong. If he didn't have so much bitterness toward George W and the rest of his Administration he could be very effective, but instead he has appointed himself as a little watchdog and in so doing has marginalized his many contributions. GovExec.com reader Posted October 12, 2004 1:40 PM
  • Thank goodness for Senator John McCain, this guy has some gumption to see through the Pentagon's hedging! If I were to guess, most likely this is another case of some worker bee's email with discretionary admonitions or good-intentioned apprehensions regarding the acquisition of the tanker being squelched! GovExec.com reader Posted October 12, 2004 10:07 AM
  • OOPS, got caught. GovExec.com reader Posted October 8, 2004 7:14 AM
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