Pamela Sleezer

The process leading to the possible renaming of Fort Polk got underway this week, as Department of Defense officials began appointing the first members to a panel that will decide its fate.

Pentagon officials confirmed to the American Press that four members of the eight-person panel have been appointed thus far, and include Sean McLean, a White House associate director, of California, Joshua Whitehouse, a White House laison to the Department of Defense, of New Hampshire, Anne G. Johnston, acting assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs, of North Carolina, and Earl Matthews, principal deputy general counsel for the Army, of Pennsylvania.

The remaining four committee members will be appointed by ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.

The committee has been named the Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America.

Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller announced the appointments in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that was approved on Jan. 1, after Congress overrode President Trump’s veto of the bill in December.

The bill identified ten military installations including Fort Polk that have namesakes with ties to the confederacy, and as such are to be considered for a renaming.

Officials have said that the renaming of installations is expected to be fully implemented within the next three years. In an email to the American Press, Pentagon officials declined to report on a procedural timeline.

“The Department of Defense is just beginning to address the requirements in the NDAA and any information is pre-decisional at this time,” officials stated in the email.

Officials also declined to comment on the details of the commission’s decision process and whether that process would allow for input from local installation community leaders.

According to the NDAA, the fully formed commission is expected to deliver to Congress a written report of details related to the renaming of U.S. bases by Oct. 11 of this year.

Fort Polk received its name from Confederate Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk, who graduated from West Point in 1827 and later left the U.S. Army to become the first Protestant Episcopal bishop of Louisiana. He served as a General in the Confederate Army and was killed in the Battle of Atlanta in 1864.Sgt. Stephen Brazzell conducts a wreath laying during a “welcoming home” ceremony in 2018 for Vietnam veterans at Fort Polk Army Airfield in Fort Polk.

Ginger Broomes