Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, a former NASA astronaut who returned to the Air Force after leaving the space agency, is expected to retire after the administration withdrew her nomination Thursday to become the next vice commander of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). Although there had been no formal announcement, an online catalog of presidential nominations operated by the Library of Congress noted that Helms’s nomination to be AFSPC vice commander, designated PN207-113, had been withdrawn by the administration on Thursday. The Air Force Times reported Friday that Helms has applied for retirement.
The nomination, made in March, was being held by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) because of a controversial decision by Helms last year, in her current position as commander of the 14th Air Force at Vandenberg Air Force Base. to overturn the sexual assault conviction of an Air Force captain there. Helms concluded that there was not enough evidence in her opinion to approve the conviction, made by jurors in a court martial. That decision angered McCaskill, who has been pressing for reforms in how the military deals with sexual assault cases. McCaskill put a hold on Helms’s nomination and refused to lift it, effectively blocking Helms from taking her new position.
Helms, an Air Force officer since 1980, joined the NASA astronaut corps in 1990 and flew on four shuttle missions between 1993 and 2000, then spent 163 days in space as part of the International Space Station’s Expedition 2 crew in 2001. She left the NASA astronaut corps in 2002 and, unlike many other astronauts with military backgrounds, elected to return to active duty. Helms, rising through the ranks from colonel to lieutenant general upon her return to Air Force duties, served in a number of primarily space-related positions, including vice commander and commander of the 45th Space Wing in Florida and director of plans and policy at U.S. Strategic Command.
Excuse me, Senator, but the General saw the evidence. She reviewed the case file, and made a decision. That was her prerogative as a general officer, and the convening authority. You probably didn’t. Don’t like how the military handles these cases? Pass legislation to strip a general from overturning a conviction, not by holding up a general’s nomination for a higher position.
One more example of how one Senator can end someone’s career because Senator X didn’t like how person Y handled a certain matter.
“Don’t like how the military handles these cases? Pass legislation to strip a general from overturning a conviction”
If you’d done your research, you’d know Sen. McCaskill was already working on that. It doesn’t mean that she should abandon her right to hold and review nominations unless and until her concerns are satisfied, which, in this case, never happened.
That’s what Committee hearings are for. Just get the Chair of the relevant subcommittee on the Armed Services Committee to call a hearing, and subpoena General Helms to get her side of the matter.
The military officers who comprised the jury in this Court Martial made a decision. They decided that the defendant was guilty. They actually sat in on the case from beginning to end. General Helms did not. Why even bother holding a court martial if a general officer can then just summarily overturn the verdict, no matter what the reason? I have to agree with the Senator on this one.
I don’t agree with Helms’ decision to override a jury nor should generals be permitted to do this. But it has no bearing on whether she would make a good administrator, which she seemed to be, and I think McCaskill’s blocking her appointment was not justified; it is just as inappropriate for a politician to use such power to block a candidate over an issue irrelevant to their nomination as for a general to intercede in a trial.
Concur. It may be that McCaskill’s angry that a female general overturned a sexual assault conviction, along with her disgust of how the military handles these matters. Emphasis on may.
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