Communities

Manchin leads letter urging Marines modernization

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, led a bipartisan, bicameral letter to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate leadership of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, urging them to continue to invest in the Marine Corps Force Design initiatives.

Force Design is the Marine Corps' restructuring plan to modernize and prepare its forces to counter growing threats from China.

"As Members of Congress, we ask for a definable, applicable, and deliverable vision from our Armed Forces to get after the pacing threat while maintaining our stewardship of the taxpayer funding we've been entrusted with. The Marine Corps has delivered. It is now time for us to deliver and provide the support necessary to accelerate the Marine Corps' full vision of Force Design. We cannot ask our Marines to stand toe-to-toe with our Nation's adversaries without first standing behind them," the Members wrote.

Force Design requires the Marine Corps to engage in a foundational change in its mission focus, shifting from three decades of sustained land operations to converting to a naval expeditionary force. The Marine Corps has already made significant progress in its modernization efforts, such as becoming more adaptable to maritime spaces, increasing flexibility and adaptability, and investing in new technologies.

Manchin was joined by Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD), Angus King (I-ME), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) and U.S. House of Representatives Jared Golden (D-ME), Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Michael Turner (R-OH), Rob Wittman (R-VA) and Trent Kelly (R-MS).

The letter reads, "The Marine Corps continues to lead the Joint Force in Service-level modernization and redesign. Last year, we detailed the urgent need to accelerate from sustained land-based operations to maritime campaigns and from non-state actors to peer competitors of China and Russia. This shift imposes a necessity to fully fund Marine Corps force design, talent management, and installations and logistics efforts to keep pace with critical and evolving strategic ends.

"Force Design, the Marine Corps' initiative to deter potential adversaries and effectively fight and win in a future conflict, continues to progress and directly applies the Service's Title 10 responsibilities within our national security strategy. The Marine Corps is relying on Congress to support this effort, just as we rely on the Marine Corps to be ready when we least expect it and to serve as our Nation's force in readiness.

"In prior years, the Commandant of the Marine Corps made difficult investment and divestment decisions that were a departure from institutional and doctrinal norms. Many of these necessary changes were openly challenged. However, we should commend the Marine Corps on its willingness to make difficult decisions for the Nation's strategic advantage and security.

"The Marine Corps' ongoing implementation of Force Design has prioritized investments towards new technologies, formations, platforms, and capabilities. These prioritized efforts have increased lethality, mobility, and survivability to maintain a competitive advantage over our pacing competitor, China. Force Design, while necessary to compete against current and future adversaries, comes at a cost. A cost the Marine Corps internally managed while balancing their enduring role as the Nation's global crisis response force. Since its beginnings in early 2020, the Marine Corps has internally allocated funding towards modernized investments with no increase to the Service's budgetary topline, effectively resulting in more than $15.8 billion in cost savings to the DoD's topline budget.

"The Marine Corps has made significant progress modernizing over the past three and a half years. To remain ahead of our adversaries in an operating environment that evolves at a faster pace than ever before, adaptive and iterative change must be continuous and well-conceived. The Marine Corps' Campaign of Learning (CoL) guides and informs modernization by providing a disciplined and structured mechanism for evaluation, and the Marine Corps has applied this methodology to ensure its efforts are as efficient and effective as possible."