Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) isn't happy with President Donald Trump's Department of Defense, and he's speaking out.
Reuters reported Tuesday that, after so many leaks, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has locked down the Pentagon to the point that no one is allowed to speak to members of Congress without his explicit permission.
"Man, I can't even get a response, and we're on your team," Sullivan said about Elbridge Colby, who handles policy for the Pentagon. He said that it was more difficult to get a response from Colby than from Hegseth or even Trump.
Colby "has been really bad on this. The worst in the administration," Sullivan blasted.
Austin Dahmer sat before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday for his nomination hearing. Among the comments he was asked about was the idea that the U.S. intends to cut troops stationed on the eastern flank of Romania. These are soldiers stationed near the Ukraine border but holding in a NATO country.
Dahmer testified that there was a classified briefing on the matter. That caused some confusion for Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL).
"Can you tell me who did them, the dates ... because I wasn't invited," noted the senator.
Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) interrupted, saying he needs some clarity on the matter as well.
"Where did you get that information?" Wicker asked.
He noted that neither Democrats nor Republicans were invited to this classified briefing. Dahmer said he was told about the briefing by the Pentagon legislative affairs folks and that there must have been "miscommunication."
"We've seen the policy office differ from the president's policy... Is that good for us?" Scott questioned.
Wicker requested that Dahmer get back to them on the record about the matter.
Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen (NV) lamented that the Pentagon has made little effort to reach out to the Senate on defense strategy. That said, the defense strategy appears to be fluid. Reuters recalled that it was just a few months ago that Hegseth stopped a weapons delivery to Urakine, only for Trump to step in and override him. The Pentagon and the White House seem very focused on rebranding the DOD and changing standards for top military officials with beards.
"We see no sense of urgency to relate to Congress. We see no sense of urgency to connect with Congress," Rosen said.
