Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Derek Chollet as the new Pentagon chief of staff on Monday, but the pick is raising eyebrows and drawing criticism after Chollet's previous nomination to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy stalled out in the Senate due to concerns over his role in the Biden administration's catastrophic and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan.
If Secretary Austin is to be believed (editor's note: he's not) Chollet "is one of the most distinguished, far-sighted, and skillful national-security practitioners of his generation," according to the Pentagon's announcement of Chollet's new post as chief of staff which highlights his current role as Counselor of the Department of State, "where he has performed superbly as one of the top policy advisers to my friend Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken," Austin's statement laughably gushed.
For his hand in Biden's departure from Afghanistan — which left an unknown number of Americans and our nation's allies behind in a Taliban hell and saw 13 heroic U.S. servicemembers killed in an ISIS-K suicide bombing outside Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport — Chollet sat for a transcribed interview with the House Foreign Affairs Committee as part of its investigation of the admin's botched withdrawal. That interview went over about as well as the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, proving Chollet has not "performed superbly" nor should be considered "distinguished" or "far-sighted."
As House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) wrote in a February 5 letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee opposing Chollet's confirmation, "it is my duty to notify you that I have grave concerns about Mr. Chollet’s candor and fitness to serve" and "must advise against his confirmation as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. I do not make this recommendation lightly," McCaul emphasized. "[D]uring his transcribed interview, Mr. Chollet exhibited not only a failure to take accountability for his role in the withdrawal but also a disregard for Congress."
"My investigation has shed further light on the disaster that was President Biden’s calamitous withdrawal," McCaul's letter to the upper chamber from earlier this year continued. "By all accounts, including his own, Mr. Chollet played a key role in all of this but says he remembers little of import...Mr. Chollet’s feigned forgetfulness reflects a disrespect for Congress’ oversight authority under Article I of the U.S. Constitution. The magnitude of this lack of transparency and obfuscation should disqualify him for Under Secretary of Defense for Policy because he would directly impact the lives of America’s service members for years to come," wrote McCaul.
The concerns were significant enough to prevent Chollet from moving forward with confirmation, but the Biden administration found a backdoor to get Chollet into the Pentagon regardless of Congress' lack of faith in his ability to reliably serve America and our brave men and women in uniform. Put succinctly, it's a slap in the face to the American people and their elected representatives.
In a statement on Monday, Chairman McCaul said he was "incredibly disappointed in Secretary Austin for making the ill-advised decision to name Derek Chollet as the Pentagon’s chief of staff."
"He is absolutely unqualified for this position," McCaul's statement continued. "His lack of candor in my committee’s transcribed interview together with his flippant public remarks about his work at the State Department make it clear he is neither a serious person nor is he trustworthy."
"With the many national security threats this country is facing, we need real leadership at the Defense Department – and Derek Chollet is not that," McCaul warned. "I strongly urge the secretary to reconsider this move."
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