U.S. military wants to surprise enemy
Number of troops in Syria and Iraq goes undisclosed
WASHINGTON — Even as the U.S. military takes on a greater role in the warfare in Iraq and Syria, the Trump administration has stopped disclosing significant information about the size and nature of the U.S. commitment, including the number of U.S. troops deployed in either country.
The Pentagon quietly has dispatched 400 Marines to northern Syria to operate artillery in support of Syrian militias that are cooperating in the fight against Islamic State, according to U.S. officials. That was the first use of U.S. Marines in that country since its long civil war began.
In Iraq, nearly 300 Army paratroopers were deployed recently to help the Iraqi military in its sixmonth assault Mosul, according to U.S. officials.
Neither of those deployments was announced when it was made, a departure from the practice of the Obama administration, which announced nearly all conventional force deployments.
The decision appears to be making good on President Donald Trump’s promise as a candidate to insist on more of an “element of surprise” in tactics.
“In order to maintain tactical surprise, ensure operational security and force protection, the coalition will not routinely announce or confirm information about the capabilities, force numbers, locations or movement of forces in or out of Iraq and Syria,” said Eric Pahon, a Pentagon spokesman.
That move deprives the public of information it has a right to know about the wars in which the U.S. is engaging, said Ned Price, National Security Council spokesman under former President Barack Obama.
“The position of the Obama administration was that the American people had a right to know if servicemen and women were in harm’s way,” he said.
In addition to the number of troops being larger, U.S. forces are nearer the front lines in Iraq and Syria than they have been since the war against Islamic State began three years ago.
The deployment of Marines to Syria was confirmed for the first time publicly last week by Gen. Joseph Votel, the top commander in the Middle East, in response to a question at a congressional hearing.
Under the Obama administration, Pentagon policy was to announce conventional deployments after they occurred. That administration even took the unusual step of revealing in 2015 that 200 special operations forces — whose missions often are classified — had been sent to Syria.
That’s changed, according to Pentagon officials.
“The coalition commander’s intent is that ISIS be first to know about any additional capabilities the coalition or our partner forces may present them on the battlefield,” Pahon said, using an acronym for Islamic State.
Even when news of a deployment leaks, officials will confirm only the broad description of the unit size being deployed.
The military does reveal what’s been dubbed a “force management level” — the number of full-time troops deployed, which is about 5,200 in Iraq and 500 in Syria. Pentagon officials acknowledge, however, that the number significantly understates the size of the U.S. troop presence because it does not include troops that are deployed on what the military considers a “temporary basis.”
More than 1,000 troops are in the two countries in that status, which applies to troops deployed for less than about six months and security personnel. The count also excludes civilian contractors, several thousand of whom are in Iraq and Syria.
The Obama administration created and used the force management level in a way that undercounted U.S. forces, although it did announce most deployments.
Michael O’Hanlon, a military analyst at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution in Washington, said limiting announcements of incremental deployments could be justified.
“Broad contours of an operation should be debated openly, and publicly understood, but specific raids or other modest changes in capabilities and deployments should not be telegraphed in advance,” he said.
But officials of previous administrations said that approach limits debate over military policy.
“It’s important to have a public debate,” said Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan and current fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. “Congress must have a role in deciding what happens next, otherwise this is a slippery slope.”