Senator Wicker rebuked the Pentagon on Tuesday over its lack of timely communication with the Senate on threats posed by China and Iran
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th March, 2023) Senator Wicker rebuked the Pentagon on Tuesday over its lack of timely communication with the Senate on threats posed by China and Iran.
"It is unacceptable that no one informed the Senate of this attack in a timely manner," Wicker said at a Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing, in which Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attended as a witness. "I would strongly prefer that the Biden administration treat the Congress as a partner moving forward," he added.
Wicker was referring to an Iranian drone attack on a US base in Syria last Thursday, which killed a US contractor and injured six. He noted that the Senate had been considering several major votes related to the use of force against Iran on the same day, yet no one in the executive branch informed it of the attack.
Wicker also expressed anger over what he described as a "dismissive" non-answer" from Austin's deputy three weeks after he and Senator Rubio sent a letter on February 8 to the secretary asking about facts and decisions about China's surveillance balloon. He said his second letter only received a reply on Monday.
Austin told Wicker that the US counterattack was launched within a short period of time after the attack, in seeming explanation for the delay. He added that "We should have notified you earlier and will endeavor to do so."
When Senator Cotton raised the same concern, Austin stated that "there is no connection between when we notified you and your vote."
Cotton said he did not believe Austin and accused the Pentagon of making "a conscious decision...not to inform Congress because you fear that it might lead to the passage of the Rubio amendment, which would kill the entire deal."
While Cotton said Austin personally may not have been behind that decision, he insisted "your office specifically withheld notification of this deadly strike against Americans, because the Rubio amendment on which we voted mid-day directly touched on exactly this scenario, not repealing these use of force resolutions if the president couldn't certify that Iran was no longer attacking us in Iraq and Syria."
