Lara Seligman • Wed Oct 17th 2023
“I cannot help but think [that the vacancies have] added a level of complexity and danger to an already bad situation,” one DOD official said.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville is holding up the promotions of more than 300 senior military officers over the Pentagon's abortion travel policy. | Francis Chung/POLITICO
Pentagon officials have been frustrated for months over an Alabama senator’s blockade of more than 300 senior military nominations. But after the Marine Corps chief was hospitalized over the weekend, that frustration is turning into rage.
Gen. Eric Smith had been filling both the No. 1 and No. 2 Marine Corps posts from July until he was finally confirmed as commandant in September. He, along with more than 300 other senior officers, was swept up in the promotions blockade put in place by GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville in protest of the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy.
Once Smith was hospitalized on Sunday following a “medical emergency,” a three-star general had to take over his role. The job of assistant commandant is still vacant.
“This is outrageous,” said a senior DOD official, who like others interviewed for this story was granted anonymity to speak about a sensitive topic. “I cannot help but think — because at the end of the day, Eric Smith is a human — that Tuberville’s unnecessary stress that he’s put on the situation where you don’t have a backup … has added a level of complexity and danger to an already bad situation.”
In an interview Wednesday, Tuberville brushed off the comments from the DOD officials.
“They’re looking for someone to blame it on, other than themselves,” he said. “We could have all these people confirmed if they’d have just gone by the Constitution.
“I don’t listen to these people,” he added. “They’re just looking for any possible way to get themselves out of a jam.”
Pentagon launches media blitz to comabt Tuberville blockade (Source: Politico)
Since Smith’s hospitalization, Senate leaders have moved to bring a handful of senior military nominations, including that of the assistant commandant, to a vote. But the upheaval leaves the Marine Corps lurching at a precarious moment for the U.S., as it supports the wars in Ukraine and Israel while also scrambling to respond to attacks on American forces in the Middle East.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has dispatched Navy ships full of Marines to the region, allowing the Defense Department to order a humanitarian evacuation or another operation at a moment’s notice. Iran-backed groups continue to threaten American troops in the Middle East; U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria have come under attack at least 23 times since Oct. 17.
With a commandant in the hospital and no Senate-confirmed assistant in place, the holds are “cutting off at the knees the advice and counsel that should be going to the chairman and the president,” said the senior DOD official.
Top Biden administration officials may not be getting the “most seasoned, wise, sage advice and counsel” on how to deploy those Marine capabilities, the official said.
Other former and current DOD officials noted that the promotions blockade means there is no backup when a medical emergency or other crisis puts a senior officer out of commission. The Navy and Air Force, meanwhile, have no Senate-confirmed chiefs due to the blockade. And more than a dozen positions in U.S. Central Command are impacted by the hold as war in Israel rages.
“Life happens, and that’s why you have people in these positions,” said a second senior DOD official.
“The fact that there was not a No. 2 there was clearly Tuberville’s fault,” the official added, referring to the Marine Corps. “That lies squarely at Tuberville’s feet.”
Once Smith was hospitalized, Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl took over the top post in a temporary role, while still filling his own job as deputy commandant for combat development and integration.
Meanwhile, 25 officers have had their retirements deferred due to the hold, including five who have had to do it twice, said the second senior DOD official.
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