A senior advisor and former deputy to the Pentagon’s undersecretary for policy told senators on Thursday that his office “neither ordered nor even recommended a pause to any weapons shipments to Ukraine” over the summer, contrary to the press reporting from the time, but also in contrast to testimony from his colleague on Tuesday and statements from the Pentagon on July 2.
For a second day, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee tried to find some clarity on recent Pentagon moves that took both Congress—and in at least one case, the White House—by surprise, during a confirmation hearing that included Alex Velez-Green, who was formally nominated in June to become Elbridge Colby’s deputy.
“Again, what I am aware of is that there were brief disruptions to delivery of weapons associated with the implementation of the capabilities review that Mr. Parnell was discussing at that time,” Velez-Green said.
His version of events was different than that of his colleague on Tuesday to the same committee.
“I’m not aware of any pause in that aid,” Austin Dahmer, who is currently “performing the duties” in the position Velez-Green is nominated for, said during a confirmation hearing for a different Pentagon position. “I think there’s been some I’m aware of, a lot of inaccurate reporting in the public on this, but I’m not aware of any pause.”
Two Pentagon spokespeople did not respond to a request from Defense One for clarification. One of those spokespeople, Sean Parnell, told reporters during a briefing on July 2 that there was indeed a pause to weapons shipments, as a result of a review of weapons stockpiles that had reportedly been recommended by Colby.
“Proactive engagement from us would have been helpful, at least, to share our side of what we understood to have happened, and that’s something I do take on board and if confirmed and committed to addressing in a forthright manner,” Velez-Green said Thursday.
The lack of clarity over aid to Ukraine is one example of the Pentagon making moves without coordinating with Congress ahead of time—a trend that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have publicly derided this week.
Republican senators on Tuesday lamented how difficult it is to get in contact with the policy office, with Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton at one point comparing the shop’s lack of communication and coordination to Pigpen, the messy Peanuts character.
“Do you agree that meaningfully engaging with Congress is necessary for the department to ultimately receive the authorities and the funding that are needed to implement ‘peace through strength?’” Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., asked Velez-Green. “If we do have areas of disagreement —for example, how best to support our allies, our partners—would you agree that a healthy discussion with members of this committee would still be valuable?”
The lack of notification or coordination on a host of moves, including a review of the AUKUS agreement and the cancelation of a rotational Army deployment to Romania, has led to lawmakers learning about them in the press.
In some cases, media reports were “the opposite of reality,” Velez-Green said, specifically pointing to a June story from Semafor that reported Colby’s office opposed deploying an additional carrier strike group to the Middle East in support of Operation Midnight Hammer.
At the time, Parnell told Semafor that Colby was “totally synced up” with the administration.
More generally, the Pentagon has broken with norms in not consulting members of the Armed Services Committees during the development of the forthcoming National Defense Strategy, a document required by law.
“I believe we developed that document in direct coordination with the secretary’s front office for his direction and intent,” Velez-Green said. “With respect to interagency coordination or notification, there were discussions, but I’m afraid it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to discuss the particulars in this setting.”
He added that he would provide documentation of those discussions in a classified meeting.
Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., asked Velez-Green to agree that he would personally respond to requests for information from lawmakers, rather than relying on the office of legislative affairs, as a recent Pentagon memo requires for communication between defense officials and Congress.
“I do quite recognize the frustrations voiced today, as well as earlier this week,” Velez-Green said, after agreeing to communicate personally. “If confirmed, you have my commitment to lean as far forward in engaging proactively with Congress, including on matters of consultation and not just coordination, while doing my part to protect the secretary’s and president’s decision space.”
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