Lavelle Nomination Hits Snag

Last August, the nearly 40-year saga to restore the honor of the late Maj. Gen. John Lavelle finally appeared headed towards its climax. Unfortunately for Lavelle supporters, there’ve been complications since then. The Senate Armed Services Committee leadership has voiced concerns over President Obama’s nomination of Lavelle for posthumous advancement to the rank of general on the retired rolls, identifying deficiencies with the Defense Department’s analysis that anchored the case for the nomination. It’s asked DOD to go back and examine additional materials relevant to Lavelle’s case. “Senator Levin believes the department’s analysis was incomplete,” Tara Andringa, spokeswoman for SASC Chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), told the Daily Report. Obama seeks restoration of the two stars stripped from Lavelle in 1972 for allegedly ordering unauthorized bombing strikes in North Vietnam—charges of which an Air Force review board definitively cleared Lavelle . . . or so we thought. For more, continue to Starstuck.