President Joe Biden nominated Admiral Lisa Franchetti in July 2023 C.E. to serve as the U.S. Navy’s top officer — a move that, if confirmed, would make her the first woman ever to hold the position and the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
At a glance
- Lisa Franchetti: A four-star admiral with 38 years of commissioned service, Franchetti was serving as Vice Chief of Naval Operations at the time of her nomination.
- Joint Chiefs of Staff: No woman had ever served on the Joint Chiefs before this nomination, making Franchetti’s potential confirmation a landmark in U.S. military history.
- Naval leadership: Franchetti is only the second woman to reach the rank of four-star admiral in the entire history of the U.S. Navy.
A career built across four decades
Franchetti commissioned as a naval officer in 1985 C.E. Over the decades that followed, she built a record that crossed both operational command and high-level policy work.
Her assignments included commander of U.S. Naval Forces Korea, deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfighting Development, and director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy of the Joint Staff. She also commanded two carrier strike groups — among the most demanding operational roles in the Navy — before becoming Vice Chief of Naval Operations in September 2022 C.E.
“Throughout her career, Admiral Franchetti has demonstrated extensive expertise in both the operational and policy arenas,” Biden said in his announcement. “She is the second woman ever to achieve the rank of four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and when confirmed, she will again make history as the first woman to serve as the Chief of Naval Operations and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
Part of a broader shift in military leadership
Franchetti’s nomination was one of several Biden announced on the same day. The president also nominated Vice Admiral James Kilby to serve as the next Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Samuel Paparo to lead U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and Vice Admiral Stephen “Web” Koehler to take over as commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin praised the nominations, saying the admirals would “ensure that our U.S. Navy and the joint force in the Indo-Pacific remain the finest military force that the world has ever known.”
Franchetti’s nomination fits into a wider pattern of historic firsts at the Pentagon during the Biden administration. Austin himself was the first Black secretary of defense. Christine Wormuth became the first female Army secretary. And the concurrent nomination of Air Force General C.Q. Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs meant the Pentagon’s two most senior leaders would, upon confirmation, both be Black men — itself an unprecedented development in American military history.
The confirmation delay
Franchetti’s path to confirmation was complicated by a Senate hold that had nothing to do with her qualifications. Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville had blocked a large number of senior military nominations in protest of Pentagon reproductive health policies announced earlier in 2023 C.E. Those policies included a travel allowance for service members and their dependents who needed to cross state lines to access abortion care.
The hold affected not just Franchetti but also the nominees for chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Army chief of staff, and commandant of the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps was without a confirmed Commandant for the first time in more than 100 years as a result.
Biden addressed the situation directly: “It is not only wrong — it is dangerous.” He called on the Senate to confirm the outstanding nominees “as quickly as possible.”
The hold was ultimately a reminder that even historic progress can be entangled in political disputes far removed from the individuals themselves. Franchetti’s record spoke for itself — but the timeline of her confirmation remained outside her control.
Why this moment matters
The U.S. Navy was founded in 1775 C.E. For nearly 250 years, its top uniformed position was held exclusively by men. Franchetti’s nomination represented a generational shift — not only for the Navy, but for the broader architecture of American military leadership.
Women have served in the U.S. Navy since World War I, when thousands enlisted as “Yeomanettes” to fill shore-based roles. The road from those early contributions to a woman leading the entire service took more than a century. Franchetti’s nomination marked the clearest sign yet that the ceiling had not just cracked — it had been removed from the top of the chain of command.
Still, representation at the very top of an institution and cultural change within it are not the same thing. The broader work of ensuring equal opportunity, retention, and advancement for women throughout the ranks of the U.S. military remains ongoing and unfinished.
Read more
For more on this story, see: CNN
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