In February, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth fired the judge advocates general of the Army and the Air Force. The summary removals sent shockwaves through the military and wider legal community. It raised urgent questions about the future of an apolitical military and the ability of judge advocates to continue to give independent legal advice.

Why the rush to remove the most senior military lawyers — and why, more than four months later, do these key leadership positions remain unfilled? These are not questions for speculation. They demand answers, and Congress has the authority and responsibility to get them.

National security requires the best military and legal advice possible. The nominees, once confirmed, deserve to assume office with legitimacy, not under a cloud of political suspicion. If the firings and the process to select new judge advocates general go unexamined and unanswered, the question becomes not only what happened, but why a coequal branch of government failed to find out.

The selection process for new judge advocates general has been markedly different and less transparent than in the past.........

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