Gen. David Allvin, Air Force vice chief of staff, speaks June 21, 2023, with civic leaders from communities near Hill Air Force Base, Utah, during a meeting at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. (Eric Dietrich/U.S. Air Force)
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday nominated Gen. David Allvin to be the next chief of staff for the Air Force.
If confirmed by the Senate, Allvin would succeed Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown as the service’s top officer. Brown was nominated by Biden in May to serve as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Allvin now serves as vice chief of staff, and he has helped with creating joint-operating concepts and leading recruiting and retention efforts. Prior to being vice chief, Allvin served with the Joint Chiefs as its director for strategy, plans and policy. He graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1986.
Allvin is also a command pilot with more than 4,600 hours, including 800 flight test hours in more than 30 aircraft and 100 combat hours in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to his service biography.
Allvin would be tasked as chief of staff for an Air Force that plans to replace aging aircraft, deals with a pilot shortage and brings the service branch into the digital era by linking sensors and weapons on the battlefield to speed up decision making.
Allvin joins a growing list of top generals and admirals whose nominations remain unconfirmed by the Senate. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who is a member of the Armed Services committee, continues to block the upper chamber from making standard voice votes to approve military promotions over his objection to a Pentagon policy that provides travel money to troops for reproductive health care, including abortions. The nominees can be confirmed by the Senate one by one in a process that would consume months of the upper chamber’s floor time.
As of July 7, the nominations of 265 senior military officers have been held up by Tuberville and could grow to 650 by the end of the year if the issue isn’t resolved, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh has said.
Politico reported Biden notified the Senate on Tuesday that he would nominate Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney to be the Marine Corps’ assistant commandant, though a formal announcement has not been made. If confirmed, Mahoney would replace Gen. Eric Smith, who has been nominated to be the next Marines commandant, a job in which he now serves in an acting role.
Along with Brown and Smith, Gen. Randy George was tapped to lead the Army and Adm. Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy. If confirmed by the Senate, Franchetti would become the first woman to become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Last Friday, Biden also nominated three other Navy leaders along with Franchetti. He nominated Vice Adm. James Kilby to be vice chief of naval operations, Adm. Samuel Paparo as commander of Indo-Pacific Command, and Vice Adm. Stephen Koehler as commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
