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Subscribe to RSSThough Congress has quashed any new round of base closures in its latest funding bill, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday called shutting down some excess military installations inevitable as the Pentagon seeks to shed operating costs.
"Now may not be the time for (Base Closure and Realignment Commission) as our economy recovers, but sooner or later, one way or another, the department is going to need to take a hard look at its basing infrastructure as we seek to reduce our overhead costs," Panetta told a meeting of the Association of Defense Communities in Monterey, Calif., according to a report of the speech from National Defense magazine.
Talk of BRAC, which is formed to slash military expenses and make operations more efficient, leads to widespread consternation in many military communities, which fear loss of jobs and trouble planning for roads and other services.
The latest round took place in 2005 and was just completed last fall. It involved closing 24 major installations and consolidating other service-specific bases into joint installations.
In New Jersey, McGuire Air Force Base, Fort Dix and Naval Air Station Lakehurst were combined to form Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. And in Washington state, Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base became Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The joint bases share administrative and support operations.
Panetta had proposed new rounds of BRAC discussions for 2013 and 2015, but the House Armed Services Committee in May voted down funding of such efforts.
Still, Panetta sees base closings and realignments as an important way to cut costs.
“It is a debate we must continue,” Panetta said, according to National Defense. “Based on conservative estimates, the first four rounds of BRAC are producing annual savings of $8 billion, and the comparable figure for the 2005 round is $4 billion.”
Panetta said on Monday that base closures not only save money but provide a way to transfer ownership of government property that can spur private economic development in those communities.
A report by the Government Accountability Office, found that the 2005 BRAC round cost $35.1 billion to execute with net savings not realized until 2018. Previous base closings in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995 were less complex and generated savings more quickly.
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So what are the Warmongers going to do with themselves? Here's an idea; Cheney gets off his bloody private island in the Caribbean & have Halliburton build wind turbines & solar panels in the U.S.A. - no dead soldiers involved.
If Mitt can keep the bases open he has my vote.
Wasted taxpayers $$$ on wasted space - turn it into a factory as was done after WW2.
how is mitt going to keep all bases open,build more warships and cut taxes even more for his friends without asking China for another loan?
Well, well. Look at ALL those armchair warriors posting on the Vine.
I particularly enjoyed those that claimed to not be isolationists, but had posts suggesting otherwise. And then the ignorance (or perhaps denial?) of those suggesting that we'll never be attacked on our home soil. It happened before and it will most likely happen again.
If you think there are no threats overseas, then you really do live in a fantasy world with cotton candy clouds.
This is only the beginning. Almost any job paid for by the government (whether at the local, state, or federal level) is going to be in jeopardy. As a country, we simply cannot afford to continue to pay for every person on the government payroll.
The debate on military spending is not an all or nothing debate.
We need some foreign bases, but NOT SO MANY.
We need some air craft carriers, but NOT SO MANY.
We need some nuclear subs, but NOT SO MANY.
We need jet fighters, but not a brand new joint attack jet fighter, no one can shoot down the jets we currently have.
We really only need to cut about 10% from the military budget, for it to make financial sense.
A 10% cut, hardly guts our readiness, or capability. We will still spend more than all other countries combined. Surely this is enough not only to defend ourselves, but to meddle in more places that we ought to.
Bill, EXCELLENT post!!! I agree 100%!
It never ceases to amaze me, especially with TODAY's technology (constantly improving) that we need tthe WASTEFUL quantities of the things you mentioned?
Plus, if we're "closing ANY bases ANYWHERE" we need to close "a few hundred FOREIGN bases first" before we even touch ANYTHING here in the USA.
Half of the money spent in the world on military forces is spent by the United States. That is not sustainable.
The U.S. should consider closing or turning over many of its overseas military bases to its allies, especially in Western Europe. Russia no longer is a superpower, and the post-World War II conditions that made the U.S. indispensable there no longer exist.
On the other hand, caution should be exercised in closing bases in Korea, Japan and Turkey. The power of China is increasing, and we cannot be certain of its intentions. Meanwhile, modern carrier groups give our nation the ability to project power where needed without having to maintain permanent bases throughout the world.
This is the same type of thinking from politicians that always leads one to ask, "Are you kidding me?" We are engaged overseas and will unfortunately need to stay in the Middle East region for years to come. I don't see those bases closing any time soon, so that only leaves US bases. I just don't want to see our military gutted in the name of savings. We have done that before with President Carter. President Clinton and it didn't work out too well. Am I seeing a pattern for this type of thinking and action from the Dems? This is why they are often accused of being soft on defense. If the shoe fits.........................!
Always fascinating to listen to the fiscally irresponsible tell us how to cut costs..what a hoot..
please inform me why it is inevitable threaten the defense and sovereignty of the U.S.A. by closing or reducing the U.S. Military, but it is unspeakable to reducing or restrict the amount of Chinese and Foreign products from entering the U.S. resulting in more businesses being reopened and employment starting and tax revenues will start being gathered
I hope every voter is aware of the mission Obama, Hillary, Reid and now Defense Secretary Panetta, are clearly indicating to the U.S.A. they are giving China the reigns to continue to seize and control the American Market and crush the American Military, treason, is a crime and until someone is held accountable, these individuals should be viewed and enemies of the State.
why is it unspeakable to reducing or restrict the amount of Chinese and Foreign products from entering the U.S. resulting in more businesses being reopened and employment starting and tax revenues will start being gathered
I hope every voter is aware of the mission Obama, Hillary, Reid and now Defense Secretary Panetta, are clearly indicating to the U.S.A. they are giving China the reigns to continue to seize and control the American Market and crush the American Military, treason, is a crime and until someone is held accountable, these individuals should be viewed and enemies of the State.
Those demanding overseas bases close, are living in a dream world and know nada about tactical and strategic deployment of forces. The initial troops deployed to Iraq came from Germany and Italy bases. Forward bases are essential to maintain some semblance of stability in the Middle East. There are only a handfull of bases still operating overseas. If Iran suddenly attacks Israel, how long would it take for the US to come to Israel's aid, without bases in Europe and the Middle East? We should never give up basing rights we currently have because renegotiating for new ones would be impossible.
The military's job isn't to provide jobs for people. It is the defense of the country. The Right Wing nuts demand spending cuts, as long as the cuts don't affect them. What hypocrites! Base closures should be made by military experts, not a bunch of mealy mouthed politicians.
Why in the name of madness would we want to get in on another religious war.
Let them slaughter each other for a year or two, and then we can ask them if they want to talk about peace.
These blustering third world societies might find the idea of peace more intriguing after they have half a million dead.
We need to close 50 percent of them.
Our military is a money pit where TRILLIONS of dollars are wasted
Sequester the hell out of them, slash, slash and then slash again.
Essential infrastructure has been ignored for half a century. Our airports, bridges, highways, NASA, schools, electrical net and damn near every other aspect of civilization has been permitted to rot in place, so the defense contractors can be indulged.
We have the ability to end all life several times over, and to defeat any potential enemy a thousand times over. Thats why they want to redefine war as a low level ongoing state that never ends, so more and more can be drained away.
We need to turn away from the world for a generation or two to get our own house in order before it is to late.
We need to stop the private sector bleeding our military and using it for themselves. The private sector takes our tax dollars for themselves If we kept it just for military then the budget likely wouldn't be high. time to stop the privatizing of the military and taking our tax dollars as a scam. This is another wall street debaucle
good luck getting any cuts though congress
Since, none of the people commenting in here have never been involved in military construction or planning, exactly where are you going to put these people? Are current CONUS bases are maxed out for infrastructure.
Just imagine setting up a complete new city of 20-50,000 people (one out of every two military is married), with 200-300K acres for training, maintenance facilities, troop barracks, a hospital, medical and dental clinics, company, battalion and brigade headquarters, firing ranges, an airport as well as flight facilities. I have personally costed out the requirements just for military facilities for a single Heavy Brigade of 3500 soldiers at $2.5B, not counting family housing or training lands. Now multiple that by 20 or 30 times as well as the costs for related infrastructure such as sewers, water, roads, railroad yeards and computer links.
Since probably none of you were deployed during the Reforger Operations of the 70-80's, how much ships and their costs as well as military airlift are required to move a brigade sized element within 48-72 hours? Probably none of you remember the costs.
So I beg the question, where are you going to put them, how are going to generate enough tax dollars to pay for this reorganization and build out (oh by the way what about the existing military construction budget for existing facilities?). Just as I thought - crickets.
While I agree with your comments I don't think their representative of what a new round of BRAC would be. They wouldn't be closing bases like Hood / Bragg / Campbell / Drum / Polk as those are just entirely too large. Their mostly looking for bases that have already had most of their units / commands either decommissioned or moved. This would save in administrative costs from not having the overhead of multiple skeleton bases (not that having a few of those is a bad thing). Could easily consolidate several of the smaller bases onto the remains of a larger one. Knox is a good example, was a huge base in the WWII days, until the last round of BRAC most of it was empty (I was stationed there and remember the empty WWII barracks and facilities). They moved some of the smaller commands into that place.
Building a new base from the ground up is ridiculously stupidly expensive. Heck expanding a base can be stupidly expensive as they've found out here with CP Humpreys. Their several years behind schedule for building all the new facilities to move the soldiers and family's from 2ID and parts of Yongsan to Humprey's so they can reduce the military footprint in SK.
I guess the upside of trimming some fat is that we stop spending monies running & maintaining these bases; the downside is that the local economy could suffer greatly losing thousands of military personnel and families.
Geopolitical arguments are better than conflicts. I work in archaeology and have seen base expansion, Fort Drum, NY to 7000 US Army 10th Mountain and support, formally from Camp Hale, CO, and have seen others "close" for example the US Navy leave and the US Air Guard is still there, what was in WWII, Warminster, now parkland, and Willow Grove Naval Air Station, now Horsham Air Guard. Next door a great aviation museum. It's where autogyros and the first US Mail planes were built and many others. In terms of public safety, a good idea, according to my Snapple cap, 40% of the US population lives a 1 hour drive from Philadelphia, PA and those other areas, with jets, as close. When I think of the contrast of 1983 Army and today's, I would gladly see more "forensic accounting" than forensics as our forces have modernized. That I think is what former US President, Columbia University president, and former US General Eisenhower meant of the then newly formed "military-industrial complex".
We don't need to close bases, we need to stop the privatizing of the military and continuing the military industrial complex. The military needs strength but businesses need to stay out of it. Privatizing means decisions made not to protect America but to protect special interests or to fight for special intersts. We give taxes to what to subsidize the industrial part of the military, like haliburton. Time to make the military accountable to the public not to the private sector.
Panetta? Just "another Obama PIMP"... walks, talks and dances just like a Circus monkey.
What has INFURIATED me over the years is that whenever these "government parasites" discuss supposed "cost cutting measures" they consistently talk about "Domestic bases"... but we almost NEVER hear ANY discussion regarding the "hundreds of military and/or U.S. government offices" around the entire world.
Our Department of Defense spends TENS of BILLIONS around the world, literally "propping up" foreign governments, while AMERICAN cities, towns, communities and citizens are always forced to "cut back".
Many U.S. towns literally exist because of nearby military bases and will become "ghost towns" if the bases are closed.
Interestingly enough, MOST U.S. cities are FULL of "federal government agency offices" that accomplish "little to nothing" but also "prop up these cities" by renting out and/or building Federal Buildings, etc. "RARELY" do ANY of these "federal offices" EVER get closed?
Sadly, it consistently shows that NOTHING the Federal government does makes any sense, usually HURTS American citizens and communities...
but NEVER IS HEARD a SINGLE WORD about "serious cost cutting OVERSEAS?"
If any citizens anywhere need to face financial difficulty it is "the free-loading SOCIALIST citizens of free-loading SOCIALIST countries American citizens PAY FOR from England to Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Israel, Egypt and the entire Middle East.
All concerned parties need to go to utube videos and SEE-- Obama Banned This Video Gee I wonder Why. if any part of this video is true I do not intend to vote for him reguardless of anyones tax records. All Americans need to be open minded enough to examine any evidence with reguards to Americas long and short term future . Dare to view and decide for yourself . Not because of what some announcer on national TV says while expressing the're interpitation of the people that are running for office. We need to keep an American in office that we can see in clairity of the're origins, the're schooling and ideals, and The're moral convictions with reguards to the American way of life. The ecconomy and American debt will not get better by spending more and allowing Japan and others to buy up America . Factual evidence is obtainable through researching the schools and papertrails of both candadates currently running for office, base your votes on realistic fact. God Bless America.
man - sure would be nice if people reading this article paid enough attention to realize we're NOT talking about overseas bases, but bases in US communities.