The Army's budget request details a branch in transition, from both a military and financial perspective.
Realignment won't change overall U.S. presence in Europe, but will close several facilities and add more than 1,000 personnel to support the new F-35.
The Defense Department is likely to push for another round of Base Realignment and Closure in fiscal 2016, even though Congress has shot down the idea more than once. But there are no legal restrictions on closing bases overseas. Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu reports, DoD is moving forward to do just that.
Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment, says shrinking forces won't be enough to match sequestration-level budgets.
The National Defense Panel delivered "Ensuring a Strong U.S. Defense for the Future" an assessment of the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review put forth by the Defense Department.
The Army is the first service to begin an analysis of its excess real estate after a Congressional prohibition against even studying the subject expired. Early results show up to a quarter of its stateside infrastructure isn't being used right now, and the Army will need even less as it shrinks in size.
The Pentagon's 2015 budget request includes sharp cuts in funding for construction and maintenance on military bases, which congressional appropriators immediately denounced. But Defense officials say they could do a better job of maintaining military bases if they were allowed to close they ones they no longer need.
Defense Department officials said reducing and realigning bases and depots will help them achieve more savings that can be put toward readiness. Acting Defense Deputy Secretary Christine Fox said this round of BRAC would be different than in 2005.
The Pentagon says its spending plan acknowledges defense spending is on a downward trajectory, and reduces force structure in order to balance other priorities such as readiness. If sequestration stays in place, the calculus will change, Defense officials say.
Congress is poised, for the first time since Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, to miss its deadline to pass the one policy bill that's been considered "must-pass" legislation under administrations of both parties. But the measure's only chance of success also torpedoes Pentagon proposals for cutting DoD's internal cost growth. Military personnel would receive a 1 percent pay raise next year.
Dr. Andrea Morris, BRAC Coordinator and Community Resilience director for Arlington County Virginia, will discuss how the county is being impacted by base closure and realignment, and what officials are doing to boost job growth in the area. November 29, 2013
Dr. Andrea Morris, BRAC Coordinator and Community Resilience director for Arlington County Virginia, will discuss how the county is being impacted by base closure and realignment, and what officials are doing to boost job growth in the area. November 1, 2013 (Encore presentation November 8, 2013
The metrics used by the Defense Department to help determine whether it needs an official round of Base Realignments and Closures (BRAC) is in need of an update, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. Current procedures lack the precision needed to give the Pentagon accurate data on the number of excess properties it actually owns.
Amid nearly unanimous congressional opposition, the Defense Department says it needs to stop operating military facilities it no longer wants or needs.
In an open letter to congressional leaders and to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a broad array of military scholars argue the cost of running the Pentagon bureaucracy soon will crowd out the spending necessary to fight and win wars.