National Guard Has New Acting Boss as Nominations Sit in Senate

Army Lt. Gen. Jonathan Stubbs took over Saturday as the acting head of the National Guard Bureau while it waits for the Senate to confirm a permanent leader, the Guard said in a press release Monday.

Stubbs, a prior-enlisted infantry officer who rose to become adjutant general of the Arkansas National Guard in January 2023, was confirmed as the Army National Guard's new boss on July 31. But in the absence of a lawmaker-approved four-star to lead the Guard as a whole, Stubbs must instead fill the most senior role.

Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson departed Aug. 2 after four years as NGB chief. President Joe Biden's pick to replace him, Air Force Lt. Gen. Steven Nordhaus, has yet to be confirmed by the Senate after a late nomination on July 23. Nordhaus currently leads the Air Force branch that oversees operations in North America, including missions to secure American airspace.

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If confirmed, Nordhaus -- a career fighter pilot who also served as the National Guard Bureau's operations director before taking a senior Air Force role at North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD -- would oversee more than 430,000 soldiers and airmen across the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia.

The National Guard boss serves as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and acts as a conduit between the Guard's 54 states and territories and federal officials in Washington.

Hokanson's retirement set off a shuffle within the Guard. A combination of late-arriving nominations -- or none at all -- to fill senior roles, as well as the Senate's summer break, has made for multiple vacancies in leadership roles. Those include the bureau's chief and vice chief, the latter of which has sat open since May without a nominee, and the Air National Guard's No. 1 officer.

The leadership vacuum is unprecedented in recent years, and could have been avoided if nominations had been sent to the Senate earlier, said John Goheen, a spokesman for the National Guard Association of the United States. While the day-to-day operations of state Guard units may continue unscathed, he said, the delay slows the influx of new ideas from a fresh leadership slate with the authority to make changes.

"The Guard's a strong organization with very strong local leadership," Goheen said. "The Guard's going to continue on; the Guard's going to accomplish the mission, but this is not an ideal situation with all these acting people."

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., whose panel starts the congressional vetting process for Pentagon nominees, said last month the committee could hold a hearing on Nordhaus before lawmakers left for their August recess. But the chamber adjourned Aug. 1 without that hearing on the books, leaving National Guard troops without a confirmed leader until mid-September at the earliest.

A spokesperson for the Senate Armed Services Committee did not answer Tuesday when the panel might schedule a hearing to consider Nordhaus' nomination after lawmakers return Sept. 9.

The Guard Bureau's leadership shuffle comes in the midst of a busy hurricane season that has prompted states to dispatch Guardsmen to staff natural disaster response efforts, and ahead of a potentially volatile presidential election, when governors could lean on the Guard to fight attacks on electronic election infrastructure, support polling stations or quell civil unrest.

Goheen questioned whether having multiple acting Guard officials might cause hiccups in critical decision-making among military leaders.

"I'm sure the Joint Chiefs would like to know what's going on with the hurricane that's coming up the East Coast," he said. "The chief, or the acting chief, would be the ideal person, consulting with the adjutants general in that particular region, to provide that particular information, and also to advise the White House. ... I'm not sure the other members of the Joint Chiefs or [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ] Brown knows how this is exactly going to work."

In the meantime, Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Baldwin, the deputy director of the Army National Guard, will act as the Army Guard's director while Stubbs serves as acting bureau chief, the National Guard Bureau said Monday.

Air Force Maj. Gen. M. Luke Ahmann, the Guard Bureau's programs and requirements director, will step in as the National Guard's acting vice chief, the bureau said. Ahmann, who will be promoted to lieutenant general, is set to take over for Nordhaus when he departs 1st Air Force for the National Guard's top spot.

And Maj. Gen. Duke Pirak, now the Air National Guard's deputy director, will continue serving as acting ANG director as he awaits Senate approval to formally hold the job. Pirak took over as acting director after the Air Guard's previous leader, Lt. Gen. Michael Loh, retired in June.

The Associated Press reported July 19 that the Pentagon has recommended Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Jarrard to be the Guard's vice chief. The White House has not yet submitted his name to the Senate for consideration.

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