While the USA suffers from a second economic depression, Congressmen speak of reducing military spending. Secretary of Defense Gates disagrees, but does want to cut overhead and administrative costs. Military bases are expensive to operate, yet another domestic base closing round is unlikely. However, the President can close any foreign base without Congressional approval. Polls show the vast majority of American citizens support the closure most U.S. military bases overseas.  Even Glen Beck rails against this waste. There are some unneeded bases in the Middle East, yet the future in that region is uncertain with the planned drawdowns, so none are mentioned here. Nevertheless, there are over a thousand U.S. military installations elsewhere, and half can be closed.

Closing these bases should not be viewed as anti-military. Money saved can be used for more combat forces, and more ships and transport aircraft for greater strategic mobility. There is also a need to rebalance our nation's overseas base structure to react worldwide, rather than contain communism. For example, closing outdated Cold War bases allows improvements to less developed bases in strategic locations. Our post-Cold War military has devoted small sums to improve bases in key spots like Guam, Adak, Sigonella in Sicily, Souda Bay in Crete, Thumrait in Oman, and Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti by the Red Sea, yet huge sums remain devoted to bases in England, Germany, Japan, and Korea. Potential key bases like Darwin and the UK's Ascension Island (pictured), are ignored. Some of the billions of dollars wasted on outdated Cold War bases should be used to improve these sites with better airfields and ship piers, and larger fuel and ammunition storage facilities.

Here is a list of outdated U.S. military bases overseas that can be promptly closed to save billions of dollars each year while shifting billions of dollars and thousands of jobs into the American economy. None of these closures require the construction of replacement facilities in the USA because they are mostly base and headquarters overhead fat that serve no purpose. Proposals that require the relocation of operational units detail where vacant facilities already exist due to downsizing:

New The Okinawa Solution - pull half our Marines off Okinawa

Halt Plans for New European Bases - in Poland and Romania

Close Kelley Barracks - and Africom

The Manas Playground - an airbase with no purpose

Why Does Camp Bondsteel Still Exist? - an outpost in Kosovo

The Forgotten Base at Soto Cano - hidden in Honduras

Close Share-a-Nuke Sites - deactivate four outdated sites and units

Close Outdated U.S. Military Bases in Japan - Futenma & Atsugi

Pull Aircraft and Airmen Out of Osan - now in a kill zone

Cut Army Fat in Korea - 8th Army and Daegu 

Vacate Two Army Bases in Germany - as once planned

Close USAG Garmisch - a hidden resort

Close Torii Station - a U.S. Army base on Okinawa?

Vacate RAF Lakenheath - the Russians aren't coming

Close Cold War Airbases in England - except RAF Mildenhall

Close Gitmo, the Entire Base - it has no purpose

Close Chinhae Tomorrow - it commands nothing

The Norway Pre-Po Racket - still ready for a Soviet invasion

Oct 2011 Update

Senators want commission to consider overseas base closings

WASHINGTON — A pair of U.S. senators are calling for full review of the costs of overseas military bases, saying that closing dozens of the foreign facilities could save billions in wasteful spending. Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, on Wednesday introduced legislation to create a new commission to “scrutinize the necessity of the United States’ current overseas basing structure” and do a cost-benefit analysis of closing multiple overseas bases. 

Earlier in the week, the pair sent a letter to the congressional supercommittee charged with trimming $1.2 trillion in government spending, urging them to make significant cuts in future overseas military construction projects. In particular, the letter called into question U.S. military projects in Europe and on Guam, saying the Defense Department has not justified the need for billions more in base spending there. In a statement, Hutchison called the commission an important step toward ending unnecessary military spending. “With today’s historic levels of debt, we need to move quickly to identify ways that we can bring our military training capabilities home, create American jobs in military construction and save taxpayer dollars without sacrificing the security needs of U.S. forces and the American people,” she said.

In May, Tester petitioned the Defense Department to consider closing Cold War-era military installations on foreign soil, saying the move could save billions of taxpayer dollars. The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform earlier this year estimated that “responsible” overseas base closings could save taxpayers $8.5 billion in the next four years. The president’s own Commission on Debt Reduction put that figure closer to $9 billion.

But Defense Department officials have pushed back on those claims. In June, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that those savings don’t include the corresponding military construction needed stateside to house returning troops, and don’t take into account the strategic risk such moves would invite. “The biggest policy question that has to be asked is what kind of signal do you want to send the rest of the world,” Gates told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “Are we basically sending the message to the rest of the world, to China, to Iran, to North Korea … that the U.S. is closing up and heading home? What kind of a role do you want for the United States in the world?” The eight-member panel would be appointed by both Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate. The legislation would have to be approved by both chambers and signed into law by the president before becoming law.

Also, my overseas base closure effort is gathering support in Congress and the Pentagon says it will close some. I have the only detailed proposal on the Internet or anywhere else as far as I know. Google overseas base closure or anything similar and my list is near the top.

June 2011 Update

My solution to the military base conflict in Okinawa and the billions wasted by the Army in Korea have received high-level attention in the US Senate after a GAO report on Asian basing plans.

"Certain projects in Korea, Japan and Guam have gotten to the point that it is clearly in the best interests of our countries, and in the best interests of sustaining and furthering our strong alliances, to re-examine these plans and adjust them to fiscal, political and strategic realities," said Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Senators Levin, McCain, and Webb backed my proposal to move Marine Corps aircraft from Futenma up the road to the larger U.S. airbase at Kadena, and moving some USAF units to other bases. They also objected to Army expansion plans in Korea.

                                             Carlton Meyer  editor@G2mil.com