Marine Gen. Eric Smith on Tuesday told senators that Sen. Tommy Tuberville\u2019s effort to hold up hundreds of military promotions could undermine national security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt certainly compromises our ability to be most ready,\u201d Smith told members of Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing on his nomination to become the next commandant of the Marine Corps. \u201cOur readiness is national security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The four-star general said the blocked promotions, which include more than 200 military officers, have an impact on readiness, decision making and the effectiveness of the units hindered by the delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen a three-star general retires \u2026 there will be a one-star general, a fairly new one, in charge of [a] 48,000-person Marine Expeditionary Force,\u201d Smith offered as an example of how the delay can affect readiness. \u201cIt will have an effect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tuberville, R-Ala., a member of the committee who was at the hearing, has blocked the Senate for months<\/a> from making standard voice votes to approve military promotions over his objection to a Pentagon policy that provides travel money to troops for reproductive health care<\/a>, including abortions. The nominees can be confirmed by the Senate one by one in a process that would consume months of the upper chamber\u2019s floor time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a dangerous world,\u201d Tuberville told Smith. \u201cAnd I would hope some of your colleagues in the Pentagon would catch on to that a little bit and get politics out of this. I mean, politics is detrimental to a lot of things. It\u2019s good for some things, some things it\u2019s not. For the military, it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith fielded other questions during the hearing on an array of issues, such as the service\u2019s modernization program, a possible lack of amphibious assault ships next year and military recruiting difficulties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI will never be shy about telling you what our young Marines need to have an unfair fight,\u201d he said. \u201cChina is the pacing challenge. Russia is the acute threat. What capabilities do they have and what do we need to thwart them?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith, 58, was nominated by President Joe Biden last month<\/a> to be the 39th commandant of the Marine Corps when Gen. David Berger retires next month. He\u2019s been assistant commandant since late 2021. As commandant, Smith would be the service\u2019s highest-ranking officer and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To ascend to the post, Smith must be confirmed by the Senate. First, it must be approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some members on the committee asked Smith about the Navy having enough amphibious warships \u2014 a question that\u2019s swirled in Congress for months since Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro ordered a pause last year on building new ones. Del Toro ordered the pause so a study could determine how many ships are needed as part of the Marines\u2019 modernization plan, called Force Design 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The service\u2019s 2024 budget<\/a> aims to retire multiple amphibious warships without replacing them, leaving the Navy with less than 31, which federal law says is the minimum for optimal readiness. Amphibious warships include dock landing vessels and assault ships that can swiftly deliver Marines on land during an assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThirty-one, at a minimum, enables us to train and to deploy and to stay deployed,\u201d Smith told the committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said having enough amphibious ships is critical to success because they also deliver equipment and weeks of necessities, such as food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThose [31 ships] must be at a ready state because Marines are in a ready state,\u201d Smith said. \u201cCrises never wait for you to finish repairs or finish training before you go. We need those 31 at a minimum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having enough ships is important for what Smith called \u201corganic mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat mobility \u2014 be it KC-130 transport refueler aircraft, CH-53K heavy-haul helicopters and, most importantly, amphibious warships \u2014 those are all part of the spectrum of organic mobility that enables Marines to be first to fight. We absolutely must have that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another priority that Smith said he would push as Marine Corps commandant is embracing new technologies and controlling intellectual property rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the keys is 3D printing. When we own the tech data rights to things we procure, [we] can build and print aircraft engines,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you can do that, that is an entire supply chain that is relieved of some stress. And it gets the engine into the hands of the warfighter today, not weeks from now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith also said the Marine Corps is making \u201crapid progress\u201d with Force Design 2030. But he cautioned, because it\u2019s a yearslong program, there\u2019s some concern about possible funding gaps and not modernizing quickly enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are never satisfied. We are Marines, we want to go faster,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t know when the fight starts, so we must assume it starts when the sun goes down tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith\u2019s remarks came about a week after the Marines issued an update to Force Design 2030, which called for more funding for issues such as infrastructure and base housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt starts and ends with people,\u201d Smith said, noting the Marine Corps continues to do well recruiting as other military services struggle attracting enough troops. The Army has said meeting its goal of 65,000 new recruits this year<\/a> will be a challenge and the Air Force has said it expects to be about 10% short of its 2023 goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Marine Corps met its recruiting challenge last year and they will meet it again this year,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI think the reason the Marine Corps has met its recruiting objectives is we haven\u2019t changed. We haven\u2019t lowered our standards and we won\u2019t. \u2026 Because the combat that comes tomorrow demands those high standards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n