[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 55 (Tuesday, March 29, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1825-S1826]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



             Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar

  Mr. President, I am here on another nomination, the nomination of 
Christopher Lowman to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for 
Sustainment.
  That position, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment, is 
the principal assistant and adviser to the Department on logistics and 
materiel readiness. The Assistant Secretary prescribes the policies and 
procedures for the conduct of logistics, maintenance, materiel 
readiness, strategic mobility, sustainment support in the DOD, supply, 
maintenance, and transportation--extremely important functions to have 
a military that works.

  We are watching the Russian military bog down in Ukraine right now 
for a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons is that their military has 
not been sustained and maintained, and a lot of their equipment is 
bogging down.
  Mr. Lowman is the person who would do this important job, and he has 
been pending before us since November with a vacancy in that position 
at the Pentagon.
  Let me tell you about Mr. Lowman. He spent his entire life serving 
this country in the military, and I mean entire life. He was born on a 
military base in Germany because his father was an Army civilian. When 
he graduated from high school, he went to Monmouth University and then 
immediately joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1984.
  Since 1984--38 years--Mr. Lowman has worked first as a U.S. marine 
and then as an Army civil servant, totaling more than 30 years. He most 
recently served as the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff to the G-3/5/7 
Directorate, which provides planning and staff management for Agencies 
under the authority of the Combined Arms Support Command. He served as 
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition Policy and 
Logistics. He deployed as a Director of Sustainment for the Combined 
Security Transition Command in Afghanistan from October 2017 to 2018. 
Prior to that deployment, he served as the Director for Maintenance 
Policy for the U.S. Army in the Office of the Chief of Staff. He was 
the Chief, Supply and Maintenance, at headquarters, U.S. Army Europe.
  He is a much awarded member of both the military and the military 
civil service--the Department of the Army Integrated Logistics Support 
Achievement of the Year Award; three Army Meritorious Civilian Service 
Awards; the Army Ordnance Corps Samuel Sharpe Award; the Army's 
Quartermaster Corps Distinguished Order of Saint Martin.
  The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment is the principal 
staff assistant and adviser to the Department on logistics and materiel 
readiness. This is a most important function.
  Mr. Lowman is a Virginian who has served his entire life from his 
birth in military families, serving this Nation as an Active-Duty 
marine and then as an Army civil servant.
  For that reason, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the 
following nomination: Calendar No. 777, Christopher Joseph Lowman, of 
Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense; that the Senate vote 
on the nomination without intervening action or debate; that the motion 
to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; and that any 
statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Missouri.
  Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I thank the 
Senator from Virginia for accommodating me here and allowing me to come 
to the floor, and I thank him for his remarks. I only got to hear the 
second half of his remarks, but I thank him for his remarks and am sure 
that he is in earnest about this nomination.
  Let me tell you why I am here, and I will be brief. I know we have a 
vote that is about to kick off. But let me tell you what I am in 
earnest about.
  The crisis in Afghanistan--the attack at Abbey Gate this past August 
that cost 13 American servicemembers, including 1 from my home State, 
from the State of Missouri, their lives--is a catastrophe unparalleled 
in our foreign policy in my lifetime. It is my firm conviction and it 
is also a promise that I made to the family of the fallen marine from 
my State that we should do--this Senate should perform its oversight 
functions related to the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan and 
in particular the events leading up to that attack at Abbey Gate that 
resulted in the deaths of those servicemembers and the deaths of 
hundreds, I am afraid--hundreds--of civilians and many hundreds of 
other Americans left behind.
  I have come to this floor before many times now to ask the Senate to 
hold accountable those who planned and led or failed to lead, in some 
instances, this operation leading to the attack at Abbey Gate, leading 
to that catastrophic loss of life, and leading, I am afraid, to the 
disastrous turn in our foreign policy, the effects of which we continue 
to feel.
  So it is my humble but earnest request that the Senate perform its 
basic oversight functions, and, very briefly, let me mention one.
  U.S. Central Command ordered a report of the events leading up to the 
Abbey Gate attack that we learned of in February. February 8, I 
believe, we learned that that report had been completed. It is several 
thousand pages long. I have the barest summary of it here.
  My staff and I have been through all of it, the thousands of pages. 
They had over 169 interviews that U.S. Central Command conducted, 
again, to try to understand how we got to this crisis point leading up 
to and including Abbey Gate.
  We have not had a single hearing in the U.S. Senate Armed Services 
Committee on this report. Now, I applaud Central Command for carrying 
out the report, for ordering it, for putting it together, but we should 
be learning what we can and holding accountable those who need to be 
held accountable. Who has been fired? No one. Who has been relieved of 
duty? No one. And if you read the report--and I commend it to my 
colleagues. If you read the report, you will see individual after 
individual, commanders on the ground warning that we are not prepared, 
that the administration was not prepared to get civilians to safety in 
Kabul; warning that the planning was not adequate; warning that there 
were dangers.

  So, Mr. President, I ask again that the committee do its basic 
oversight job, perform its basic function, hold a hearing on this 
report, hold accountable those who failed in that catastrophic 
withdrawal from Afghanistan. Until that time, I am going to continue to 
ask that the Senate observe regular order in leadership positions in 
the Department of Defense.
  And for those reasons, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I respect my colleague's right to object, 
obviously. But I would say that while the Senator from Missouri raises 
very valid concerns, none of those concern this nominee, Christopher 
Lowman, and none of his concerns are addressed or

[[Page S1826]]

enhanced by leaving the Pentagon without an Assistant Secretary of 
Defense for Sustainment during a war in Europe where the U.S. military 
is playing a very important role.
  I yield the floor.