{"id":28886,"date":"2023-06-13T17:52:45","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T17:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/06\/13\/military-nominations-hold-could-hurt-readiness-says-top-marine-nominee\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:49:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:49:40","slug":"military-nominations-hold-could-hurt-readiness-says-top-marine-nominee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2023\/06\/13\/military-nominations-hold-could-hurt-readiness-says-top-marine-nominee\/","title":{"rendered":"Military nominations hold could hurt readiness, says top Marine nominee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marine Gen. Eric Smith said Tuesday that the Corps\u2019 readiness may be hindered by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2023\/06\/08\/joint-chiefs-vacancies-loom-amid-tubervilles-senate-standoff\/\" target=\"_blank\">one senator\u2019s hold on military nominations<\/a> \u2014 the same hold that could interfere with Smith\u2019s own process of being confirmed as the next commandant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two senators asked Smith at his confirmation hearing before the Senate\u2019s armed services committee about the downstream consequences of the blanket block on senior military nominations by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tuberville has held up nominations for general and and flag officers since February in protest of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2023\/02\/16\/troops-can-take-three-weeks-off-to-travel-for-abortions-ivf-treatment\/\">a Pentagon policy<\/a> that offers troops travel expenses and leave if they have to go out of state to obtain an abortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWould you say that this consistent blocking of these nominations is compromising national security?\u201d Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, asked the general.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2023\/06\/08\/joint-chiefs-vacancies-loom-amid-tubervilles-senate-standoff\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1248268180.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Joint chiefs vacancies loom amid Tuberville\u2019s Senate standoff<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Sen. Tommy Tuberville&#039;s blanket hold on military confirmations could create as many as five joint chiefs vacancies. Here&#039;s what happens next.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSir, I think it certainly compromises our ability to be most ready,\u201d said Smith, the assistant Marine commandant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He provided an example: Each of the three Marine expeditionary forces, the largest building block forces under which Marine units fall, is headed by a three-star general with a one-star deputy. At the largest Marine expeditionary force, the three-star in charge will soon retire, Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen he does so, there\u2019ll be a one-star, a fairly new one, in charge of that 48,000-person Marine expeditionary force,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd that compromises readiness and decision-making and the effectiveness of that division?\u201d King asked in a follow-up question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSir, it does,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith was referring to I Marine Expeditionary Force, the Marine Corps\u2019 West-Coast-based force, Maj. Joshua Larson, a Marine spokesman, told Marine Corps Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The White House in March nominated Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, the current aviation boss, to succeed Lt. Gen. George Smith, the current head of I Marine Expeditionary Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The force\u2019s deputy commander, Brig. Gen. Robert Fulford, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/Releases\/Release\/Article\/1733321\/general-officer-announcements\/\" target=\"_blank\">pinned on his first star<\/a> in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response to a question by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Smith emphasized that it wasn\u2019t that one-star generals aren\u2019t capable leaders \u2014 they simply have less experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this for 36 years,\u201d Smith said. \u201cSo as I walk a flight line, or as I walk a firing range, or as I walk through a barracks, there\u2019s a high likelihood there\u2019s not much I haven\u2019t seen, and I can fix things before they get started.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One misstep by an less experienced leader can have cascading effects on the entire operation, Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith also noted, in response to a question from King, that a hold on general-officer nominations affects not just would-be generals but also lieutenant colonels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Marine Corps has a cap on its number of colonels, Smith said, so when a colonel can\u2019t ascend to brigadier general, a lieutenant colonel can\u2019t take his or her spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The current Marine commandant, Gen. David Berger, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2022\/12\/27\/new-in-2023-a-39th-marine-corps-commandant\/\" target=\"_blank\">statutorily required to end his term<\/a> July 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Joe Biden on May 30 nominated Smith to succeed Berger, but Tuberville\u2019s hold on nominations may throw a wrench in that process.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2023\/05\/31\/bidens-pick-to-lead-the-marine-corps-helped-design-its-new-vision\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4080330.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Biden\u2019s pick to lead the Marine Corps helped design its new vision<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">President Joe Biden nominated Gen. Eric Smith Tuesday to serve as the next commandant of the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tuberville, for his part, appeared willing to support Smith for the job of \u201chead coach,\u201d as he put it \u2014 if or when he ceases his hold on nominations. Earlier in the hearing, Tuberville expressed his admiration for Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCongratulations on your nomination, and look forward to supporting you,\u201d the senator said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tuberville praised the general in particular for saying that the Corps\u2019 focus was on war-fighting and lethality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe live in a dangerous world, dangerous world,\u201d Tuberville said. \u201cI would hope that some of your colleagues in the Pentagon would catch on a little bit to that 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. In the military, it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One misstep by an less experienced leader can have cascading effects on the entire operation, Marine Gen. Eric Smith said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":63963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[8,160,29,11,92,36,48],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3426],"class_list":["post-28886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-global","category-modern-day-marine","category-newsletters","category-the-americas"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ZYXAJMOQWFBKHA73UYA6I7EPGA","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2023\/06\/13\/military-nominations-hold-could-hurt-readiness-says-top-marine-nominee\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Military nominations hold could hurt readiness, says top Marine nominee - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One misstep by an less experienced leader can have cascading effects on the entire operation, Marine Gen. 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