Supporters of President Trump are beginning to worry that some Iran hawks in the Senate could torpedo a critical Defense Department nominee over his perceived lack of commitment to defending Israel should the Islamic Republic develop nuclear weapons. The vice president, the secretary of defense, and several pro-Trump activists are already gearing up for another potential pressure campaign against certain Republican senators, as they did for other recent Cabinet nominees. 

The president has nominated Elbridge “Bridge” Colby to serve as under secretary of defense for policy — the number three position at the Pentagon, which is responsible for policy planning, resource management, and fiscal matters. Mr. Colby has been working in Washington’s foreign policy think tank world for decades, and members of the Trump administration see him as a break from the past with his suggestion that America re-focus its efforts on East and South Asia instead of Europe and the Middle East. 

Administration officials began their public campaign for Mr. Colby’s confirmation over the weekend, with Vice President Vance saying that Mr. Colby was well-qualified for the position and would bring a welcome new perspective to the job.

A writer for Tablet Magazine, Park MacDougald, raised concerns on X that Mr. Colby had worked for the Center for a New American Security, which at the time was led by Victoria Nuland, who would later go on to serve in a high-level position in the Biden State Department after working for both President Obama and President Bush. The vice president responded, saying that Mr. Colby’s work for Ms. Nuland should not be disqualifying. 

“Bridge has consistently been correct about the big foreign policy debates of the last 20 years. He was critical of the Iraq War, which made him unemployable in the 2000s era conservative movement,” Mr. Vance wrote on X. “He built a relationship with CNAS when it was one of the few institutions that would even hire a foreign policy realist.

“A perceptive writer would ask why a serious realist was shut out of the dominant institutions of the American Right in the late 2000s. Instead this guy says ‘he’s a democrat.’ Sloppy BS,” the vice president added, criticizing the writer, who said the Trump administration was “elevating a Democrat” to a vital Pentagon job. 

“Of course, no one who’s written as much as he has over the last 20 years is going to get everything right,” Mr. Vance conceded. “But what would you rather have in the government? A cautious bureaucrat who never has an original thought? Or a genuinely brilliant strategic thinker? Easy choice!”

The current defense secretary also weighed in on Mr. Colby’s nomination. “Bridge Colby was nominated because he will faithfully implement the President’s policy agenda — unlike many national security appointees in the first term who sought to undermine President Trump,” Secretary Hegseth wrote on X. 

The public campaign in defense of Mr. Colby started in earnest with a call from conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who in November  threatened any Republican senator who voted against Mr. Trump’s Cabinet nominees with a primary challenger when they were next up for reelection. 

“The effort to undermine President Trump continues in the US Senate. @SenTomCotton is working behind the scenes to stop Trump’s pick, Elbridge Colby, from getting confirmed at DOD. Colby is one of the most important pieces to stop the Bush/Cheney cabal at DOD,” Mr. Kirk wrote. 

“Why is Tom Cotton doing this?” he asked. 

Mr. Cotton — a fierce Iran hawk and self-described Zionist — apparently shares the concerns of several pro-Israel and anti-Iran organizations who say Mr. Colby may not be serious enough about countering Iranian influence in the Middle East, given his suggestions that America turn its defense policy-making apparatus toward a new focus on Communist China. In an article  for the U.S. Naval Institute in 2023, Mr. Colby argued that “everything” not related to countering the Chinese military threat — including America’s posture in Europe and the Middle East — should be “deprioritized.”

Major pro-Israel groups here in America have raised concerns about Mr. Colby’s commitment to supporting Israel, given that he has advocated for focusing America’s defense dollars more on the Far East. As recently as this month, a conference of Jewish leaders asked senators to question Mr. Colby’s commitment to countering the Iranian threat to Israel and America, considering he recently said on Tucker Carlson’s podcast that a military operation against Iran may not have a “clear connection to American interests.”

On February 5, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee — who will conduct Mr. Colby’s confirmation hearing — suggesting that they ask certain questions of the nominee. 

The Conference of Presidents said Mr. Colby should clarify his positions on whether America should strike Iran if it develops nuclear weapons, if Iran is an existential threat to America, and if America should withdraw more troops and missile systems from the Middle East. 

One of the groups included in the Conference of Presidents’ letter later said that its name was invoked erroneously. Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America, wrote in his own letter that Mr. Colby would be a pro-Israel under secretary for policy. 

“ZOA was never consulted about, and never approved, a February 5th letter sent to you by the Conference of Presidents,” Mr. Klein said. “The CoP also held no meeting, no discussion and no vote of the CoP’s member organizations regarding Mr. Colby.”

Mr. Klein said that he had personally talked to the nominee about the importance of defending Israel from Iranian aggression, and that Mr. Colby assured him he would be a strong supporter of the alliance if confirmed to his critical position. 

“Mr. Colby expressed his view that the United States should continue to provide Israel with US financial aid and everything, any military equipment and ammunition and armamentarium that Israel needs to deal with the Iranian threat or any threat,” Mr. Klein wrote in his letter. “He also expressed a desire to do all he can to fight the dangerous increasing scourge of mindless, irrational Jew-hatred and Israel-hatred in America and around the world.”