Senate confirms Elbridge Colby as Pentagon’s next policy chief
The vote marks a win for skeptics within the GOP of liberal deployment of US military power.
WASHINGTON — The US Senate on Tuesday voted 54-45 to confirm Elbridge Colby as the Pentagon’s No. 3 civilian official, overcoming opposition from some lawmakers skeptical of his advocacy for deprioritizing US strategic engagement in Europe and the Middle East.
Colby — a China hawk who had helped oversee the drafting of the 2018 US National Defense Strategy during Trump's first term — has divided GOP lawmakers since his pick was announced earlier this year.
Despite intensive questioning during his confirmation hearing on March 4, Colby was broadly confirmed by Republican lawmakers, with the sole exception of former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“Elbridge Colby’s long public record suggests a willingness to discount the complexity of the challenges facing America,” McConnell wrote in a statement. “The prioritization that Mr. Colby argues is fresh, new and urgently needed is, in fact, a return to an Obama-era conception of a la carte geostrategy.”
