Senator Lindsey Graham has said that he will block the
nominations for C.I.A. director and defense secretary pending more
information on the deadly attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi,
Libya.
A leading Republican senator has said that he will block
confirmations of President Barack Obama's nominees to lead the
C.I.A. and the Defense Department unless he is given more
information on the deadly attack last year on the U.S. diplomatic
compound in Benghazi, Libya.
The senator, Lindsey Graham, who is from South Carolina and is a
vocal critic of the administration's handling of the attack, said on
Sunday that he would use a Senate custom known as a hold to stall
the nominations of John O. Brennan as C.I.A. director and a former
Republican senator, Chuck Hagel, as secretary of defense until the
White House gave him a full description of Mr. Obama's actions
during the attack on Sept. 11, 2012.
"What did he do that night?" Mr. Graham asked during an
appearance on the CBS News program "Face the Nation."
He suggested that the president could have intervened to manage
the crisis personally. "That's not unfair," Mr. Graham added. "The
families need to know."
The ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans
were killed when heavily armed Islamic extremist militants stormed
and burned the compound.
The White House responded to Mr. Graham's threat on Sunday
evening.
"We believe the Senate should act swiftly to confirm John Brennan
and Senator Hagel," said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National
Security Council. "These are critical national security positions,
and individual members shouldn't play politics with their
nominations."
A hold is an informal measure by which any senator may prevent a
vote without having to provide a specific reason or even identify
who he or she is. But it can be overridden by a vote of 60 senators.
Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, also appearing on
"Face the Nation," called Mr. Graham's threat "unprecedented and
unwarranted."
He added, "I think it is an overreaction that is not going to
serve the best interests of going forward, of the national security
of the United States."
Mr. Graham cited Democratic efforts in 2005 to hold up the
confirmation of John R. Bolton, President George W. Bush's nominee
as ambassador to the United Nations, as a precedent for his
threatened hold.
