Leeruth trooper magazine version 2 copy 2

Putin’s delight: Obama’s pentagon closes fifteen
European US military bases
By Johan Bennett
The Pentagon announced plans on
Thursday to close 15 military bases
in Europe in an effort to save around
$500 million dollars a year.While there
will only be a slight reduction in overall
force levels, critics are concerned that this
decision is coming at exactly the wrong
time when Europe is facing the prospect
of further Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Over the past 10 years, U.S. military
presence in Europe has slowly declined,
and the recent European Infrastructure
Consolidation review is an attempt
to accelerate the process in light of
fiscal concerns. The closed bases will
be returned to their host governments,
Bloomberg reports.
“We have continually sought efficiencies
in installations worldwide,” said John
Conger, acting deputy under secretary of
defense for Installations and Environment,
at a Department of Defense briefing on
Thursday morning.
In the briefing, defense officials attempted
to address worries by saying that over
the past two years, they’ve taken pains
to ensure base closures will not reducing
fighting capabilities.
“In this fiscal environment, it would be
irresponsible of us not to look for such
savings. We used a process very similar to
the U.S. BRAC process when looking at
the bases in Europe. The bottom line was
we wanted to preserve our operational
capabilities while reducing the costs of
supporting them. We did not contemplate
changes that removed fighting capabilities,”
Conger added.
The cuts have been a long time coming.
The Pentagon was tasked with reducing
defense spending by $1 trillion over 10
years. Congress has pushed back against
the plans, refusing to close bases in the
domestic arena for fear of losing popular
support. But closing overseas bases does
not require congressional support, so
with some prodding from Congress, the
Pentagon shifted its gaze abroad. It will
take approximately five to six years to
complete the closures.
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