Defense Communities 360 Headlines

The Defense Logistics Agency’s decision to move its operations from a depot located 60 miles east of Oakland could result in the closure of the 724-acre Defense Distribution Depot San Joaquin – Sharpe. The agency plans to relinquish its permit to use the site in Lathrop, Calif., to the Army; the facility formerly had been known as the Sharpe Army Depot. DLA intends to shift its operations at the Sharpe site to nearby Defense Distribution Depot San Joaquin – Tracy and possibly other agency facilities …

Looming uncertainty over the defense budget has dominated the focus of Pentagon officials and Congress now that sequestration has kicked in, forcing the military services to rethink their spending plans on a constant basis as they attempt to absorb tens of billions of dollars in cuts. In recognition of the overriding concern about the defense budget within Washington and across the nation, the keynote speaker at the Defense Communities National Summit next month will be Robert Hale, DOD’s comptroller and chief financial officer …

No one would argue that a primary goal of the military should be to protect threatened species and the sensitive habitats where they thrive, but helping to save rare plants and animals certainly is a nice side benefit to ensuring the armed forces can continue to train at the nation’s 440 installations. For the past eight years, DOD’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative has helped to protect bases threatened by encroaching development by working with local governments and conservation organizations …

Lend Lease Corp. closed on the third phase of the Army’s Privatization of Army Lodging program, securing $465 million in project debt to expand the initiative to 18 new posts, the international property and infrastructure group said Wednesday. Over the next eight years, Lend Lease will deliver 1,018 new Candlewood Suites brand hotel rooms and renovate 2,745 hotel rooms to Holiday Inn Express brand standards. The 18 installations under phase three cover about 3,800 hotel rooms throughout the United States …

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will make a decision shortly on the extent to which civilian workers will be forced to take unpaid days off, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little told reporters Wednesday. “We’re in the middle of a $37 billion to $40 billion cut over a six-month period, and we need to look closely at that, but I expect him to make a decision soon …

The Air Force has merged all staff working on BRAC missions, including environmental and real property pre-transfer operations, under one directorate within the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, officials announced Tuesday. Effective April 22, 45 staff, including civilian and support contractors, transitioned into the Installation Directorate’s BRAC Program Management Division led by Stephen TerMaath. The move follows last October’s creation of the civil engineer center …

U.S. employers have hired or trained 290,000 veterans and military spouses since the Joining Forces initiative was created two years ago, nearly tripling the program’s original goal, First Lady Michelle Obama said Tuesday. Businesses now are pledging to hire or train an additional 435,000 individuals over the next five years, Obama said. “We know that today is not the finish line …

The District of Columbia has selected five prominent development teams to compete to become the master developer for the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Upper Northwest Washington. Officials had received responses to its request for qualifications from a total of nine firms, the city announced in March. The short-listed candidates will be asked to respond to a request for proposals issued later this month …

The Army is spending millions of dollars on installations that are “simply unusable” as the cost of upkeep for antiquated facilities climbs exorbitantly, Secretary John McHugh told reporters Tuesday. As the Army struggles to absorb deep spending cuts, eliminating unneeded installations would provide it with funds that could be used elsewhere. McHugh told reporters that he supports the Pentagon’s request to hold a BRAC round in 2015, reported the Hill. The secretary acknowledged the political perils that await anyone who supports another round of base closures and agreed that shuttering a large post could be harmful to the local economy. But the “highly effective use” of BRAC could generate a significant savings for DOD, he said.

If Congress and the White House fail to reach a deficit reduction deal that replaces automatic spending cuts starting in fiscal 2014, the Pentagon would consider crafting an alternate budget, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday. Last month, the Obama administration sent Congress a $526.6 billion base budget for next year that does not reflect the $52 billion reduction in defense spending triggered under sequestration in FY 2014 …