Defense Communities 360 Headlines

Lawmakers on Wednesday pressed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to explain why the department’s $527 billion base budget request for fiscal 2014 ignores sequestration and is $52 billion above the spending cap set by the 2011 Budget Control Act. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said what was “most troubling” about the budget was that it did “not even acknowledge the mandatory cuts associated with sequestration in fiscal year ’14, much less propose a plan to replace the cuts that can actually pass Congress …

One of about two dozen military command centers operated by North American Aerospace Defense Command during the Cold War is available to anyone interested in purchasing two windowless buildings in Cicero, N.Y. The SAGE — Semi-Automated Ground Environment — complex at the former Hancock Air Force Base has 175,000 square feet of space and is being offered for $895,000, reports the Post-Standard. The buildings — which have two-foot-thick reinforced concrete walls and one-foot-thick concrete floors — were originally used to track Soviet bombers and assign jets and missiles to intercept them. After the military closed the complex in 2001, the General Services Administration disposed of it. The property now is part of Hancock Airpark, an industrial park being developed by a local economic development entity.

A partnership between the federal government and other organizations has unveiled a publication series intended to help civilians support military families and veterans across a variety of endeavors. The How to Help Military and Veteran Families series will feature 11 issues tailored to audiences such as medical professionals, faith-based communities, educators, employers, financial institutions, legal professionals, first responders, mental health professionals, and families and friends …

As the budget season gets under way, Democrats and Republicans will need to find a compromise over sequestration before appropriators can craft fiscal 2014 spending measures. As the law currently stands, automatic cuts will result in government-wide discretionary spending falling from about $984 billion in the current year to $967 billion in FY 2014. That’s the figure House appropriators favor …

The top officials for the Navy and Marine Corps told lawmakers Tuesday that they do not expect to cut much spare capacity if a new base closure round goes ahead in 2015. “We in the Navy have taken previous BRAC rounds very seriously,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told the House Armed Services Committee. “We’ve shed most of our duplicative and overlapping bases and services …

The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee said they oppose the Pentagon’s request to conduct a round of base closures in 2015, a stance which presents a formidable barrier to the Pentagon’s pursuit of a new BRAC round. Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin last week said he would not support DOD’s request, continuing his opposition from last year. On Tuesday, though, Levin added that he didn’t believe DOD was serious about its request because it failed to include any funds in next year’s budget to carry out a BRAC round …

Plenty of questions remain for the Fort Monroe Authority after the Army last month unexpectedly said it was ready to transfer 313 acres of the historic post located on the Virginia shore of the Chesapeake Bay to the LRA. For one, what will happen if the governor’s office does not accept the parcel from the Army? The attorney general’s office is reviewing the Army’s quitclaim deed …

Nominations to join the ADC Board of Directors are due by 5:00 p.m. EST on April 19. ADC is seeking committed and motivated members to fill five seats on the board, including four from the public sector and one from the private sector. Candidates must be able to attend three to four meetings per year and commit five to 10 hours per month to board-related activities …

Teachers and counselors at DOD Education Activity (DODEA) schools will not be furloughed during the current school year, ensuring military children won’t miss any class time before the academic year ends in June. Until last week’s announcement, DODEA had not said how sequestration would affect the operation of on-base schools, but military families had worried that planned furloughs for civilian employees would shorten the school year …

A senior DOD official has objected to the proposed route for a 500-mile-long, high-voltage transmission line linking central New Mexico to southeastern Arizona, saying it jeopardizes the mission of White Sands Missile Range. “It should be clearly understood that no other location exists in the United States where it is possible to conduct flight tests of missile systems with these footprint requirements,” wrote Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics …