Highlights

A confirmation hearing for Gov. Katie Hobbs' pick to lead the Arizona National Guard turned into a proxy fight Monday over the national standoff between Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with two Republican senators pressing nominee John Conley to take sides, and Conley refusing.

Conley, a brigadier general and career military attorney, told the Senate Committee on Director Nominations he had no intention of wading into the dispute. He said it would violate both state and federal law for him, as a soldier, to speak critically about any sitting member of Congress. On the underlying question of whether anyone should release classified information, he was direct: "I don't believe it's appropriate for anybody to release classified information in violation of the law."

The fight centers on Kelly's appearance on "Face the Nation," where he discussed dwindling munitions stockpiles tied to U.S. involvement in Iran. Hegseth accused Kelly of disclosing classified material; Kelly has countered that Hegseth himself has made the same information public. Hegseth subsequently demoted Kelly's retired Navy captain rank and issued a letter of censure, moves that federal courts have since blocked, according to the Arizona Capitol Times. The Tucson.com account of the hearing confirmed Kelly also joined five other members of Congress in a video urging service members to follow the Constitution rather than illegal orders.

Sen. Wendy Rogers, a Flagstaff Republican and military veteran, pressed Conley on a separate front: whether a career judge advocate with no combat deployments can credibly command the Guard's more than 8,000 Army and Air Force personnel. Rogers argued the position of adjutant general requires a role model for what Hegseth has called a "warrior ethos" and "warrior culture." Conley pushed back, noting that Gen. George Washington appointed the first adjutant general specifically to prepare troops rather than lead them in the field, and that his nearly 40 years of service across the world, including time in Korea where U.S. troops died in combat operations, gave him the grounding to support soldiers even without front-line infantry experience.

Conley also declined to give Rogers a clean yes-or-no answer on whether the United States is at war with Iran. He said that if the term is used colloquially, the country is engaged in hostilities there, but that under the War Powers Act, Congress has not issued a formal declaration of war. Sen. Jake Hoffman, the Queen Creek Republican, called Conley's answers a "legalistic quibble mentality."

Republican Sen. T.J. Shope of Coolidge joined the panel's two Democrats to advance the nomination 3-2 to the full Senate.

Why does the confirmation timeline matter?

Conley was nominated by Hobbs on June 10, 2025. Under Arizona law, a nominee who is not confirmed within one year of nomination can no longer hold the office. That puts the deadline at June 10, 2026, leaving the Republican-controlled Senate roughly four weeks to act.

The Governor's office announcement confirmed the June 2025 nomination date. KVOA also reported on Conley's appointment as the state's top military official at the time of the original nomination.

A full Senate vote is required before that deadline or the seat reverts.

Sources

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  1. azcapitoltimes.com retrieved 12/05/2026 19:41
  2. tucson.com retrieved 12/05/2026 19:41

Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 12/05/2026 19:41. Every claim traces to a source.