Sullivan wants secrecy on his decision to delay Marine commandant confirmation

Sen. Dan Sullivan doesn’t want the public to know why he took action to hold up the appointment of Lt. Gen. David Berger as Marine commandant.

Sullivan dropped his opposition to Berger’s appointment last week. USNI News first reported May 24 that “local Alaska issues” were at the heart of Sullivan’s objection.

Sullivan later said that his opposition was “between me and Gen. Berger.” That’s not much of a response from Sullivan, who is running for re-election in 2020. He should let the public know what he was worried about.

During an April 30 confirmation hearing, Sullivan said the Marines have a “stale posture” in the Arctic that hasn’t been looked at since World War II and he wants more training by the Marines in Alaska, which means more military spending in Alaska.

Berger said during his confirmation hearing that the size of the Marine Corps may have to be reduced so that it can modernize and focus on a reduced number of high priority missions, USNI reported.

Sullivan began his questioning at 1 hour, 42 minutes into this hearing.