Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman James Inhofe, R-Okla., holds up a copy of the national defense strategy report during Gen. John E. Hyten's confirmation hearing to serve as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, July 30, 2019 on Capitol Hill. (Joe Gromelski/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Several senators said Tuesday they would support President Donald Trump’s nominee for the No. 2 U.S. military officer, calling sexual misconduct allegations against Air Force Gen. John Hyten by a subordinate false.
“I am confident the full truth was revealed in this process, and the truth is Gen. Hyten is innocent of these charges,” said Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., a former Air Force officer who earlier this year said she was raped by a superior officer. “Sexual assault happens in the military, it just didn’t happen in this case.”
Hyten was nominated in April to replace Air Force Gen. Paul Selva as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Selva is set to retire Wednesday.
McSally said she spent three weeks poring over the details of allegations raised in recent months against Hyten, currently the chief of U.S. Strategic Command: that he made a series of sexual advances toward a female Army colonel on his staff in 2017 and sexually assaulted her in her hotel room during a work trip that December. Those allegations were raised by Army Col. Kathryn Spletstoser, who identified herself publicly last week in the New York Times.
The Air Force Inspector General conducted an investigation into the allegations, and top Air Force officials, including former Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, determined that no evidence existed of the wrongful encounters alleged by Spletstoser. Wilson, who left the Air Force for academia earlier this year, testified Tuesday that Hyten was innocent.
“I believe the Senate will come to the same conclusion I did” after reviewing the investigation, Wilson said. “Gen. Hyten was falsely accused, and this matter should be set aside as you consider his nomination. I accept that it is entirely possible that his accuser is a wounded soldier who believes that what she is saying is true, even if it is not. That possibility makes this whole situation very sad.”
Former Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Gen. John E. Hyten await the start of Hyten's Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing to serve as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, July 30, 2019 on Capitol Hill. (Joe Gromelski/Stars and Stripes)
Former aide Army Col. Kathryn Spletstoser listens from the audience as Sen. Martha McSally speaks during Gen. John Hyten's Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 30, 2019. (Joe Gromelski/Stars and Stripes)
Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz, addresses Gen. John E. Hyten, foreground, during his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing to serve as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, July 30, 2019 on Capitol Hill. (Joe Gromelski/Stars and Stripes)
Gen. John E. Hyten speaks during his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing to serve as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, July 30, 2019 on Capitol Hill. (Joe Gromelski/Stars and Stripes)
On Tuesday, senators including Doug Jones, D-Ala., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and James Inhofe, R-Okla., the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, expressed confidence in Hyten’s innocence. Cotton, Tillis and McSally said they would support his nomination.
Inhofe and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the committee’s ranking member, described a massive probe by the Senate after Spletstoser came forward. The committee held five closed-door sessions to hear 15 hours of sworn testimony from 50 witnesses, they said. Inhofe described the investigation as a “fair, thorough and methodical process.”
“As a result of the exhaustive process and extreme due diligence, I have full confidence in Gen. Hyten’s ability to be the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” McSally said. “He is the right leader at the right time for this important position.”
Hyten, 60, is a 1981 graduate of Harvard University in Massachusetts. He commissioned into the Air Force through the school’s ROTC program after he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering. He has led STRATCOM since November 2016, placing him in charge of America’s nuclear arsenal, missile defense and space operations. Previously he served as the commander and deputy commander of Air Force Space Command.
On Tuesday, he strongly denied charges of misbehavior and called sexual misconduct a “scourge on the military.”
“I am intensely aware of the allegations made against me concerning one of the most serious problems we have in the military today – sexual assault,” Hyten said in his opening statement. “It has been a painful time for me and my family. I want to state to you and the American people in the strongest possible terms that these allegations are false.”
Spletstoser, who attend the hearing Tuesday, told the New York Times that during a 2017 trip to the Reagan National Defense Forum in California, Hyten showed up unexpectedly at her hotel room. She said he forcefully kissed her on the lips and “while pressing himself against her, then ejaculated, getting semen on his sweatpants and on her yoga pants.” She told the Times he then asked her not to reveal the encounter.
She told the newspaper she only came forward now because of his nomination for vice chief.
Hyten testified Tuesday he had “never been to her room. Never.”
Spletstoser told reporters after the hearing that Hyten lied, and called for an opportunity to testify publicly before the committee.
“You just had a four-star general get up in front of the American people, and in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, make false statements under oath,” Spletstoser said. “He lied about sexually assaulting me.”
While several senators expressed full confidence in Hyten, others questioned his judgment on dealing with Spletstoser, who was accused by her subordinates of being a toxic leader.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, accused Hyten of turning a blind eye to those accusations, raised by about six individuals.
“You couldn’t bring yourself to admit to toxic leadership in your command,” Ernst said. “You only did something about it when concerns were raised about your own leadership. That suggests a conflict between your personal inclinations and your professional responsibilities.”
Hyten admitted he was slow to recognize toxic leadership within his headquarters at STRATCOM, telling Ernst that Spletstoser was an impressive officer who never demonstrated problematic behavior around him.
“The nature of a toxic leaders is they are brilliant to the boss [and] the bosses don’t see those kinds of things,” Hyten said. “It took me to do an actual inquiry ... into the entire climate of my headquarters before I actually saw evidence there was toxic leadership.”
Hyten, whose confirmation could be voted on this week, also told senators that China was his biggest long-term national security concern. He expressed support for building a sixth uniformed military service, the Space Force, as long as it was placed within the Air Force Department in a similar manner to how the Marine Corps is within the Navy Department.
The general also said he supported the deployment of a small number of low-yield nuclear weapons on U.S. submarines to deter Russia.
Hyten vowed to Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, to speak honestly with Trump on all military topics, even if the president does not agree with the general’s assessment.
“I have in the last two and a half years with the president had some uncomfortable discussions,” Hyten said. “I will continue to provide best military advice, as described.”
