Defense Communities 360 Headlines

About 94 percent of the Navy’s more than 200,000 civilian employees will be forced to take unpaid days off before Sept. 30, according to guidance sent to senior officials. Employees most likely will be placed on furlough for 14 days, after the Pentagon determined last month that the fiscal 2013 spending bill provided sufficient operations funds to avoid requiring workers to take 22 unpaid days off. Furloughs are expected to begin in June. Despite alleviating some of the impact of the automatic spending cuts, “decisions need to be made on what we can keep, what can be rebalanced and which ship and aircraft maintenance can be deferred,” the guidance said, reported the Washington Post.

The residents of Valparaiso, Fla., may not be embracing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets at Eglin Air Force Base, but they have grown to accept the new supersonic and stealth aircraft and a noise profile that is louder than the aircraft it is replacing. The city had sued the Air Force over the noise, which resulted in a settlement that called for the installation located on the Florida Panhandle to take several steps to mitigate the sound, reported Military Times. Now leaders from other communities concerned about the impact of the F-35 are looking to Valparaiso for strategies to cope with the noise. It’s not clear how much louder the F-35 is than other aircraft because of the multiple variables affecting sound levels, according to the story. Valparaiso Mayor John Arnold says that so far the noise has been manageable, but he is concerned about the impact when Eglin’s F-35 fleet grows from 22 to 59.

As in past years, the two chambers’ Appropriations committees will make a good-faith effort to pass individual spending bills for the upcoming fiscal year, but there still is a strong likelihood that political realities will force lawmakers to rely on continuing resolutions to fund the government. The primary wrinkle this year will be determining the topline for discretionary spending in fiscal 2014. That cap is $1.058 trillion under recent budget control laws, but sequestration would reduce that figure to about $966 billion in FY 2014 …

The Chesapeake Science & Security Corridor, through the Harford County (Md.) Office of Procurement, is requesting bids for a review of telework/flexible commuting alternatives and best practices, along with a feasibility study, for the Aberdeen Proving Ground community. The project includes two parts: (1) A study of flexible commuting alternatives feasibility/best practice assessment looking at uses of flexible commuting policy and initiatives, preferably federal and DOD-oriented, from across the country as they relate to addressing traffic mitigation issues …

The new plan the U.S. and Japanese governments announced Friday to reduce the U.S. footprint on Okinawa could take 16 years to complete. Closure of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and its realignment to another part of Okinawa, the trickiest part of the Okinawa Consolidation Plan, would occur by 2023 at the earliest. About 2,500 acres of land on the island currently under U.S. control, which includes six major installations, would be returned by 2029 …

To overcome lawmakers’ resistance to approving a new round of base closures, the Pentagon should identify from the outset what installations it is considering closing or realigning, Todd Harrison, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, told reporters Friday. “DOD needs to come at Congress with more specific plans,” Harrison said, reported Foreign Policy. What’s needed is a detailed plan mapped down to the congressional district. The vast majority of members of Congress won’t be hurt …

The Department of Veterans Affairs would receive a 4 percent boost in discretionary funding under President Obama’s fiscal 2014 budget request, a reflection of his commitment to deal with the growing backlog of veterans’ claims and help returning service members transition to civilian life, according to White House and VA officials. “The president has made clear that this is a national priority,” White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said at briefing Friday with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki …

The Army has agreed to partner with El Paso Electric to acquire a 20-megawatt solar farm at Fort Bliss, making it the military’s largest renewable project to date, the post’s commanding general announced Friday. The $120 million project, which will cover 200 acres and power the headquarters for the 1st Armored Division and much of the eastern portion of the installation, is scheduled to be completed in 2015, Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard, the division and installation commander, told reporters. The partnership also would be the first between the military and a major local utility on a renewable project of this scale …

While many lawmakers have cited the upfront costs associated with carrying out base closures as an argument against authorizing a new BRAC round at a time when the Pentagon is being forced to slash spending, one defense analyst believes shuttering excess facilities is one key structural reform the military needs to implement to rein in its budget. “No business in America would be satisfied operating for a decade with 21 percent excess facilities,” said Todd Harrison, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments …

Economic development officials in Grand Forks, N.D., say their goals revolving around Grand Forks Air Force Base shouldn’t be hindered by the unexpected departure last month of the wing commander. “As a community, we’re used to these transitions,” said Chamber of Commerce President Barry Wilfahrt. “We already anticipated working with a new commander in May or June anyway …