NORAD Nominee Pledges to Put Pentagon’s Focus on Securing the Southern Border

Air Force Lt. Gen. Gregory Guillot (L), nominee to be general and commander of the US Northern Command and commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and Space Force Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting (R), nominee to be general and commander of the US Space Command, on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 26, 2023. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Two former Air Force Academy Class of 1989 graduates have been nominated by President Joe Biden to take command of the U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the four-year-old U.S. Space Command (SpaceCom).

Air Force Lt. Gen. Gregory Guillot, currently U.S. Central Command deputy commander, has been named to lead NORAD, a joint U.S–Canada command that monitors aerospace and maritime threats. He is also nominated to manage U.S. Northern Command, which includes the Arctic.

Space Force Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, who is the first and current commander of Space Operations Command and served as Air Force Space Command director, would lead SpaceCom, created in 2019 as the newest branch of the U.S. military.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (L) and Vice President Kamala Harris (C) attend a Rose Garden event where President Joe Biden (C) announces that Gen. Charles Q. Brown (R) will serve as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the White House on May 25, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

At a July 26 hearing to consider the nominations, the Senate Committee on Armed Services asked Lt. Gen. Guillot about NORAD’s domain awareness, hypersonic missile systems, nuclear arsenals, Hawaii missile defense, growing threats in the Arctic, unmanned weapons systems, artificial intelligence (AI), the Chinese regime’s advances in developing a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System, and how NORAD can assist with border security.

Lt. Gen. Whiting was asked about the militarization of space, especially by the Chinese regime, continuous encrypted communication, capturing and integrating advances spearheaded by the nation’s aerospace industry, AI, the lingering dispute between Colorado and Alabama over SpaceCom headquarters, and what would constitute an act of war in space.

DEI Not Main Focus

It wasn’t until 90 minutes into the hearing that the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) was mentioned, when Sen. Eric Schmidt (R-Mo.) asked several questions of Lt. Gen. Whiting regarding Pentagon DEI programs. DEI has received much attention in many 2023 congressional discussions regarding the Department of Defense (DOD) and the nation’s proposed $886.3 billion defense budget, which is now being debated in the Senate.

Mr. Schmidt asked why Lt. Gen. Whiting relieved Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier of command of the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado in May 2021 for podcast comments that DEI was based on critical race theory, which is “rooted in communism.”

“That is correct, senator, there were other comments regarding specific political parties that were in addition to the comments you cited,” Lt. Gen. Whiting said, noting it was an hour-long podcast that featured numerous comments that violate DOD policies.

Mr. Schmidt, a former prosecutor and Missouri attorney general asked, “Is opposition to DEI partisan political speech?”

“No it’s not unless it advocates for a specific political party or candidate,” Lt. Gen. Whiting said, adding that Lt. Col. Lohmeier was relieved because of “a specific quote involving a specific political party” on a podcast “where he identified himself as a Space Force commander.”

The U.S. military installs concertina wire on the levee behind Granjeno in Texas, just north of the U.S.–Mexico border, on Nov. 7, 2018. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Noting that Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown, Mr. Biden’s nominee to be Joint Chiefs of Staff chair to succeed the retiring Army Gen. Mark Milley, co-authored an August 2022 memo that stipulated preferred racial quotas for Air Force recruiting efforts, Mr. Schmidt asked the nominee whether Gen. Brown should be relieved of command.

Lt. Gen. Whiting said that he shouldn’t and answered in the negative again when Mr. Schmidt asked whether Gen. Milley should be relieved of command for comments supporting DEI, which could be construed as “partisan political speech.”

“Do you support DEI initiatives in the military?” the senator asked several times.

“I support a ready lethal force that draws from the best talent all across America,” Lt. Gen. Whiting said, adding at various times that he supports “a merit-based approach,” opposes racial quotas, and would welcome, even help re-recruit, the 8,500 who were booted from the military for refusing to receive COVID-19 vaccinations.

NORAD Will Go to the Border

In Congress’s defense deliberations, and in appropriations and policy discussions regarding numerous federal agencies, there has been growing concern about the nation’s ability to defend its airspace and borders, particularly its southern border with Mexico.

Lt. Gen. Guillot said it would be his “top priority” to integrate NORAD’s capabilities with “whole-of-government efforts” to secure the border.

“The drug threat [from fentanyl] is acute, significant, and serious,” he said, pledging “direct support” for federal, state, and local agencies engaged in border security.

“If I am confirmed, due to the importance of this mission—as soon as possible after the change of command—I will go down to the southern border and meet not only with the U.S. military assisting lead law enforcement agencies, but also with the interagency [participants], the intel community, and Mexican military partners,” Lt. Gen. Guillot said.

The general said he would tour the border from California to Texas to better understand the issue and assess how the forces under his command could deal with this “very serious problem.”

Sen Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) greets guests before former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., on June 13, 2023. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he is co-sponsoring a defense budget amendment with Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) to designate fentanyl as a national security threat “to encourage DOD to be more forward-leaning in this fight.”

Ms. Ernst asked how he “would improve mil-to-mil cooperation” with Mexico and Central American nations to better surveil who and what is headed for the border.

“Border security is national security, and national security is an element of homeland defense. It would be a top priority of mine,” he said.

An hour into the hearing, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said that based on average rates, during that hour, “12 Americans ... died of drug overdoses” attributed to fentanyl but “everybody is pointing to everybody else” about who is responsible and what is needed to gird the border.

“What has come through to me is the lack of central authority. You are the closest thing to that,” he told Lt. Gen. Guillot, adding that he would like to see “a special task force created to better organize the effort” and that the NORAD chief should lead it.

“I will take charge of assessing that for DOD,” Lt. Gen. Guillot said.

“We don’t have operational control of the border,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said, calling for better use of drones and noting Department of Homeland Security data show that there had been “more than 100 Russians trying to cross border” in recent months.

Russian intelligence has more officers deployed in Mexico “than anywhere else in the world,” he said, noting that “98 terrorists” have been “caught at the border” in the past few years.

Lt. Gen. Guillot reiterated that he will tour the border, speak with all involved, including in Mexico, and provide the DOD with an assessment that it can work on with Congress in adjusting policies to better leverage NORAD’s assets to address border security.

Promotions Still on Hold

Even if Lt. Gen. Guillot and Lt. Gen. Whiting pass initial muster with the committee, their advancements won’t go through until Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) lifts his hold on military promotions.

Mr. Tuberville announced in January that he would block the Senate’s routine unanimous consent process in advancing hundreds of DOD promotions in one vote to protest a Pentagon policy that provides support for service members and dependents who must travel out of the states in which they are based to receive abortions.

As a result, according to the Pentagon, command-level promotions have been delayed for 265 senior officers with as many as 650 estimated to be affected by the end of the year unless the hold is lifted.

On July 20, the Senate Armed Services Committee reported out favorably a list of 2,699 military nominations in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Space Force—including that of Gen. Brown as the uniformed commander of the nation’s military—within the proposed defense budget.

If Mr. Tuberville, a member of that committee, dissents, then every nomination must be confirmed individually. At the July 26 hearing, he didn’t address the holds.

But Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) did.

“Let me point out the words ‘if confirmed,’” he said, noting that the nominees used the phrase as a qualifier in their responses.

“'If confirmed’ is certainly in question because of Sen. Tuberville’s holds on these promotions and these positions. These advancements are critical for national defense.”