One can say a lot about Sen. John McCain. Many have. The Senate's "maverick" has that effect on folks.

But one cannot say the Arizona Republican, officially installed last week as the new Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) chairman, fails to understand the Senate.

Just look at the senators he chose to lead the panel's six subcommittees: savvy political operators, subject matter experts and one young rising star.

He's deploying his "Three Amigos" colleagues, GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, to chair the Personnel and Readiness subcommittees, respectively.

Both will be key as SASC grapples with ever-rising military personnel costs in the sequestration era and what the Joint Chiefs say is a military unprepared for some missions because of the cuts.

McCain knows he needs his most trusted lieutenants to rally support for any proposals on those issues he wants to push through the Senate.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., will head the Strategic Forces subcommittee. And in Sessions, McCain gets an articulate and politically skilled chairman who can lead the charge against any changes to the US nuclear arsenal the Obama administration might propose in its next Pentagon spending plan.

Shipbuilding has been an area on which the SASC boss has been, to put it mildly, outspoken over the years. He was the ranking member of the Seapower subcommittee in the 113th Congress.

His selection of Mississippi GOP Sen. Roger Wicker to lead the subcommittee in the 114th Congress exemplifies McCain's understanding of the chamber.

Wicker is the new head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a post that yields a ton of political power. Wicker will be spending the next two years doling out campaign cash — and storing up favors to be cashed in down the road.

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., will lead the Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittees. McCain told reporters last week he intends to add cyber to the panel's name — and to its priorities.

In Fischer, he's putting a subject matter expert in charge of an issue he considers a major national security priority that has received too little attention from just about everyone in Washington.

"Our nation's entire data security system is in desperate need of revamping, and that's going to require congressional action," Fischer said in a 2014 floor speech. Those comments, and others she made last year, let everyone know she's a cybersecurity player.

Then there's the rookie on McCain's roster — newly elected GOP Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas. He'll oversee the Airland subcom­mittee.

Actually, he's a rookie only in the upper chamber. He did two years in the House of Representatives, four in the Army (101st Airborne Division), serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Airland will provide Cotton a high-profile venue to cut his teeth leading a subcommittee and negotiating deals with his colleagues.

Many in the defense sector fear the McCain Era. But his selection of subcommittee chairs shows, as has been written in this space before, that for the sector he's more ally than enemy.

Email: jbennett@defensenews.com.

Share:
More In Congress