Marines’ top general ‘ruthlessly’ rides out Tuberville’s military hold (Part I of II)
Gen. Eric M. Smith has a vision for furthering the Marine Corps’ transformation from a force shaped by two decades of counterinsurgency warfare into one that’s optimized for a great-power clash, possibly with China.
He can’t share it with anyone, though.
The United States, Smith said in a recent interview, finds itself in an “interwar period” and must take full advantage of peacetime to regroup and advance new fighting concepts.
But the general, selected by President Biden to become the Marines’ next top officer, is one of more than 300 senior military leaders whose nominations are on hold, caught in an acrimonious months-long dispute between Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and the administration stemming from the Pentagon’s abortion policy. And so, Smith said, for now he must “ruthlessly adhere” to admonitions from the Senate that he not presume his next assignment is assured.
“People say, ‘What’s your commandant’s planning guidance?’” Smith said, referring to a major document that the Marine Corps leader typically distributes at the outset of his term, to set priorities and expectations for the 200,000 active-duty troops and reservists under his command. The general’s reply: “You’ll have to ask the 39th commandant when that person is confirmed,” he said, “because I cannot work on that document.”
At 58, Smith is battle-tested — in Iraq, in Afghanistan and, equally importantly, in Washington. It appears there is Senate consensus that he possesses the relevant experience and requisite expertise to guide the nation’s crisis-response force through the next four years. At his confirmation hearing in June, lawmakers from both political parties praised his experience — with Tuberville saying a few weeks later that he has “a great deal of admiration” for the general and that there was “little doubt” about his suitability for the post.
Yet for the foreseeable future, Smith — along with the incoming heads of the Army, Navy and, soon, the Air Force — will do his job with the limited authority of an acting administrator — marking the first time in more than a century that the Marines have been without a Senate-confirmed service chief. Smith is barred even from moving into the Home of the Commandants, a historic D.C. residence occupied by the Corps’ top officer since the 1800s.
This portrait of the Marines’ prospective leader is based on interviews with Smith and a dozen current and former Marines. Though colleagues see him as highly qualified, some worry that the longer Tuberville’s gambit continues, the more challenging it will be for Smith to reorient the service and prepare the force for America’s next major conflict.
“It’s only been a couple of months. Can he deal with that? Sure. But how much longer?” said Robert Neller, a retired general who served as the top Marine from 2015 to 2019. “At some point, he has to put his stamp on the organization as commandant.”
‘Waiting is not an option’
Tuberville has said he’ll lift his hold on Biden’s nominations, imposed in February, only after the Pentagon rescinds its policy of reimbursing travel costs for military personnel who cannot obtain an abortion in the state where they are stationed. Administration officials enacted the program after last year’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that had protected for nearly 50 years a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.Service members, defense officials say, do not choose where they serve and deserve access to reproductive care. Tuberville’s view is that federal money should not be used to pay for any expense affiliated with abortion. Neither side has budged.
Smith has tread carefully in his public statements about the controversy, telling lawmakers in June that the promotions hold “compromises our ability to be most ready,” thus endangering national security.
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He has sought to reassure Marines that the political gridlock will not upend the service, though. During a wide-ranging discussion at the Pentagon, he insisted that plans for modernization will proceed apace.
“There’s no issue,” Smith said, “with that acceleration at all.”
Privately, though, service officials acknowledge that challenges and concerns are beginning to mount. For instance, Tuberville’s hold also has frozen the nominations of Smith’s prospective replacement as assistant commandant, Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney, and 16 other senior officers slated for roles either overseeing tens of thousands of troops or setting and directing policy.
One Marine official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal conversations, said that while lower-ranking generals will hold some of those positions on an interim basis, there’s growing apprehension about how effective they can be over the long term, and what the ramifications for unit readiness and troop discipline may be.
Smith addressed the situation in a letter to all Marines on Aug. 1, writing that, while he cannot predict how long the impasse will last, “waiting is not an option.”
Smith wrote that despite the tumult, he intends to press ahead with the controversial force-structure overhaul that began under Gen. David H. Berger, who retired as commandant in July. He offered few specifics, leaving the letter “intentionally broad” so that a confirmed service chief has room to impart guidance.
Smith has played a central role in the effort, which has culled the service’s fleet of battle tanks and much of its artillery while researching new ways to deter Chinese aspirations in the Pacific. The concept calls for sharpening the Marines’ ability to launch long-range missiles from ships or islands and then move quickly to avoid counterattack.
The concept has proved divisive, with some retired generals arguing that it has gutted the service’s ability to conduct other core missions, including intense combat with a powerful adversary — as U.S. leaders are watching unfold now with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Smith has defended the shake-up, saying the Pentagon must, above all, prepare to face down its chief military competitor, China. But he also has left open the possibility that some changes made so far could be reconsidered.
Smith told The Washington Post that, already, officials have revised one proposal calling for the Marines’ standard infantry battalion to shrink from 896 to 735 personnel, an attempt to make the units more nimble. The service now thinks 811 troops is the right size, Smith said, and could revise the figure again.
The prospective commandant also foresees the service scrutinizing lessons from Ukraine, noting that in a “fairly stalemated war,” the range of artillery matters a great deal and that troops who fail to hide their radio communications will come under fire.
Another priority that awaits: There is a dwindling number of warships to move troops at sea. For years, the Marine Corps said it needed 38, but the Navy has shrunk that number over time. The Marines now say they need at least 31, but the Navy has signaled it could cut even more. It’s a significant concern, officials say, citing the scramble in April when the United States moved to evacuate its embassy in Sudan but had no Marines at sea nearby to assist.
Smith, as a three-star general, worked closely on the issue with his Navy counterpart, Vice Adm. James Kilby, whose nomination to become the Navy’s next No. 2 officer also is ensnared in Tuberville’s hold. The two are friends who even go fly-fishing together, but Kilby’s recommendation was to shed three more amphibious ships and apply the financial savings to other missions.
Kilby, in a phone interview, said that while he and Smith have different viewpoints, they want to model civility and collaboration between the services.
“There has never been a time where I said, ‘Am I talking to the real Eric Smith here?’” Kilby said. “The answer is always yes.”
