DONALD WHO?:

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, center, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, left, and Undersecretary of Defense David Norquist, right, appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee. (Michael Reynolds / EPA-Shutterstock)

The commandant of the Marines has warned the Pentagon that deployments to the southwest border and funding transfers under the president's emergency declaration, among other unexpected demands, have posed "unacceptable risk to Marine Corps combat readiness and solvency."

In two internal memos, Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller said the "unplanned/unbudgeted" deployment along the border that President Trump ordered last fall, and shifts of other funds to support border security, had forced him to cancel or reduce planned military training in at least five countries, and delay urgent repairs at bases.

The border deployment and funding transfers, as well as recovery costs from hurricanes Florence and Michael, new housing allowances and civilian pay raises, are taking a toll on combat readiness, Neller wrote to Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Navy Secretary Richard Spencer. [...]

"It's pretty unusual for the commandant to be raising concerns that... a top political priority for the president is undermining the ability of the Marine Corps to do the training they need," said Mandy Smithberger, a defense expert at the Project for Government Oversight, a nonpartisan independent watchdog group.

"It looks like from Commandant Neller's perspective, he does think these policies are undermining readiness," she added.

"This is a pretty strongly worded memo," said Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington.

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