Defense Communities 360 Headlines

U.S. Africa Command headquarters will remain in Stuttgart, the Defense Department announced last week, after determining that the advantages of being located in Germany outweigh the added costs. “The secretary, informed by the judgment of the AFRICOM commander and a study of locations, decided the current location serves the operational needs of AFRICOM better than a location in the continental United States,” said DOD spokeswoman Lt. Col. Elizabeth Robbins …

Two high-profile decisions announced last week by the Pentagon to trim spending did not stem from the looming threat of sequestration, but rather were responses to the department’s existing budget crisis, said Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On Wednesday, officials halted deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East to help the Navy cope with a $4.6 billion shortfall in spending on operations and maintenance this year resulting from DOD operating under a continuing resolution rather than a full-year appropriations bill …

Workforce groups in Dallas this week launched a new initiative intended to put a dent in the high rates of unemployment among military veterans and the long-term unemployed. The Dallas effort — sponsored by Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas and the YWCA of Metropolitan Dallas — is the first community to benefit from the national expansion of the Platform to Employment program, which was started in Connecticut by The WorkPlace, a regional workforce development board in Bridgeport …

Despite recent claims by senior leaders of both parties that sequestration likely will go forward this year, there still are plenty of Republican and Democrat lawmakers who would like to avoid the $85 billion in government-wide spending reductions scheduled to go into effect March 1. Of course the dispute over whether a package to replace the cuts will include increases in tax revenue, or be composed entirely of alternate spending reductions, is the primary obstacle to a bipartisan deal …

After 17 years of relying on annual appropriations from Congress, the nonprofit charged with preserving the Presidio of San Francisco has grown up and shown that it can operate as an independent organization capable of sustaining the natural and cultural resources of the historic Army post that closed in 1994. The fiscal year that ended last September was the last year the Presidio Trust received a federal allocation as stipulated in the legislation that created it …

The Air Force would be forced to postpone the start of 22 new military construction projects if automatic defense cuts are imposed beginning March 1, according to an Air Force presentation to Congress. Sequestration would affect smaller projects as well, requiring the service to defer work on more than 420 non-emergency facilities sustainment and restoration/modernization projects at more than 140 installations …

Senate Democrats are trying to complete work by the end of next week on a bill to reverse $85 billion in government-wide spending reductions slated to be imposed March 1. Their goal is to bring the measure, an undetermined mix of alternate spending cuts and new tax revenue, to the Senate floor the week of Feb. 25, just before the sequester goes into effect …

Lawmakers in eastern North Carolina are considering an ordinance regulating structures higher than 350 feet as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the flying mission at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. The ordinance would require structures such as wind turbines, cell towers and buildings to obtain a permit from Craven County. The move comes as neighboring Pamlico County is addressing concerns of the Marine Corps about a proposed wind farm …

The House Appropriations Committee has begun drafting a continuing resolution to fund the government after March 27, a strong indication that Congress will not be moving any of the 12 individual spending bills for fiscal 2013. Congressional leaders most likely will fund the remainder of the fiscal year through another six-month stopgap measure, but no decision has been made yet …

In a reprise of legislation introduced in the House and Senate last year, Republican lawmakers Wednesday proposed replacing $85 billion in government-wide spending cuts slated to go into effect March 1 with savings from trimming the federal workforce. The legislation, sponsored by House Armed Services Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R), would pay for the first year of the sequester by reducing the size of the federal workforce by 10 percent through attrition over the next 10 years and imposing a pay freeze for members of Congress …