Chatter: Confirmations for National Security Positions, with Arnold Punaro
The Lawfare Podcast30 Juli 2024

Chatter: Confirmations for National Security Positions, with Arnold Punaro

At the start of every presidential administration, the nominees for more than 1,000 civilian positions require Senate confirmation. A large number of those are in the Department of Defense, with confirmation responsibility going to the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC). And whether it's a new administration or not, the committee processes dozens of civilian nominations for typical turnover reasons and thousands of military promotions as part of regular order.


Arnold Punaro, author of the new book If Confirmed, knows the Senate confirmation process as well as or better than anyone alive. For half a century, he has been central to the confirmation process for military-related nominees--including more than two decades in the US Senate (as SASC Staff Director and in other roles) and more than 25 years since then as an official or unofficial confirmation adviser for the Executive Branch. He joined David Priess to talk about the Constitutional foundations of confirmation, the overall process as it has evolved from nomination through confirmation to appointment, recess appointments and their limits, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and its quirks, how a presumption of confirmation can get nominees in trouble, why senatorial holds on nominees are getting out of control, which aspects of the confirmation process need to change, and more.


Works mentioned in this episode:


The book If Confirmed by Arnold Punaro


Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.



See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Avsnitt(2927)

Lawfare Archive: Election Anxieties and the U.S. Postal Service with Kevin Kosar and Anne Joseph O’Connell

Lawfare Archive: Election Anxieties and the U.S. Postal Service with Kevin Kosar and Anne Joseph O’Connell

From September 1, 2020: On August 13, President Trump said in a news interview that he opposed supplemental funding for the United States Postal Service because such funding is needed for the delivery...

11 Apr 54min

Scaling Laws: How to Use, Govern, and Lead on AI? Rep. Begich Points the Path Forward

Scaling Laws: How to Use, Govern, and Lead on AI? Rep. Begich Points the Path Forward

Representative Nick Begich, Alaska's at-large member of Congress, joins Kevin Frazier, Director of the AI Innovation and Law Program at the University of Texas School of Law and a Senior Fellow at the...

10 Apr 46min

Rational Security: The “Deeply Iran-ic” Edition

Rational Security: The “Deeply Iran-ic” Edition

This week, Scott sat down with his Lawfare colleagues Daniel Byman, Tyler McBrien, and Natalie Orpett to talk through aspects of the week’s biggest Iran-focused news stories, including:“Situational Ir...

9 Apr 1h 22min

Lawfare Daily: Katherine Pompilio on Tracking Government Non-Compliance in Habeas Corpus Cases

Lawfare Daily: Katherine Pompilio on Tracking Government Non-Compliance in Habeas Corpus Cases

What does it look like when the government violates court orders in more than 350 separate immigration habeas cases?On today’s episode, Lawfare Senior Editor Molly Roberts sits down with Lawfare Assoc...

9 Apr 30min

Lawfare Daily: Yaqiu Wang on Surveillance, Censorship, and Emerging Technologies in the PRC

Lawfare Daily: Yaqiu Wang on Surveillance, Censorship, and Emerging Technologies in the PRC

Lawfare Senior Editor Michael Feinberg sits down with human rights advocate Yaqiu Wang to discuss the role of emerging technologies in China’s surveillance and censorship apparatus.To receive ad-free ...

8 Apr 48min

Lawfare Daily: Arne Westad on ‘The Coming Storm’

Lawfare Daily: Arne Westad on ‘The Coming Storm’

Lawfare Senior Editor Michael Feinberg and Professor Arne Westad of Yale University, author of “The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, and Warnings from History,” discuss 19th- and 20th-century power poli...

7 Apr 46min

Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, April 3

Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, April 3

In a live conversation on YouTube, Lawfare Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes sat down with Lawfare Senior Editors Molly Roberts, Anna Bower, and Roger Parloff and Lawfare Associate Editor Katherine Pomp...

6 Apr 1h 38min

Lawfare Archive: A World Without Caesars

Lawfare Archive: A World Without Caesars

From March 14, 2025: This episode of the Lawfare Podcast features Glen Weyl, economist and author at Microsoft Research; Jacob Mchangama, Executive Director of the Future of Free Speech Project at Van...

5 Apr 52min

Populärt inom Politik & nyheter

aftonbladet-krim
svenska-fall
rss-krimstad
p3-krim
flashback-forever
politiken
rss-sanning-konsekvens
aftonbladet-daily
blenda-2
spar
rss-vad-fan-hande
motiv
rss-krimreportrarna
dagens-eko
rss-flodet
rss-frandfors-horna
svd-ledarredaktionen
spotlight
olyckan-inifran
rss-aftonbladet-krim