First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden pledged to continue leading the Joining Forces initiative, which has generated a flood of support for military families and veterans, over the next four years. “There is growing appreciation, but I think there is still more work to do,” Obama told the Pentagon Channel, reported American Forces Press Service. “We want to keep shining that spotlight …
A dozen Army installations would gain between 1,000 and 3,000 personnel under one of the two alternatives officials considered in assessing the impacts of reducing the service’s end strength by 72,000 soldiers by 2020. Under the first alternative examined in the Programmatic Environmental Assessment for Army 2020 Force Structure Realignment, no installation would experience a net gain of personnel …
With the House Republicans’ plan to extend the nation’s borrowing authority until May 19 gaining support from members of both political parties, House conservatives are girding for a battle over the sequester and funding the government beyond March 27. During a meeting of the Republican caucus on Tuesday, party leaders indicated they may be content to keep in place the $85 billion in across-the-board spending reductions set to go into effect March 1 …
Defense officials are being forced to resort to “educated guesses” as they attempt to complete work on the fiscal 2014 defense budget due to the number of unsettled questions about current and future spending. At a time when the Pentagon normally would be nearing the end of the budget process for the upcoming year, officials still are trying to gain a grasp of the current year’s budget. For starters, sequestration is slated to be imposed March 1, forcing the defense budget to absorb about $45 billion in FY 2013 spending cuts …
The House Republican plan to pass a short-term increase in the nation’s borrowing limit without accompanying spending reductions would restore the focus on Capitol Hill to addressing the automatic cuts slated to go into effect on March 1 and expiration of the stopgap spending bill funding the government later that month. On Friday, House leaders said they would take up a measure this week to raise the debt ceiling to a level that would not be reached until April 15, a move that could postpone the threat of another showdown over one dispute until after Congress deals with the other two fiscal issues on its plate …
“Early communication” between the Air Force and prospective developers about upcoming projects that rely on either enhanced use leasing (EUL) or power purchase agreements (PPAs) is key to ensuring the success of those ventures by reducing the chances that unexpected hurdles will slow their progress. That observation was one of many that resulted from a partnership discussion among Air Force officials, developers and community leaders held last week during ADC’s Installation Innovation Forum in San Antonio …
The Army’s plan to reduce its end strength and realign its forces over the coming years will not substantially affect the environment but will result in significant impacts to a variety of economic measures in communities neighboring 21 installations, according to an assessment of potential changes to the service’s force structure scheduled to occur by 2020. Economic impacts could include reduced employment, income, regional population and sales, according to a Federal Register notice published Friday. The analysis evaluated the Army’s plan to trim its active duty end strength from 562,000 at the end of fiscal 2012 to 490,000 by FY 2020. It examined the potential impacts that could occur at posts expected to experience a gain or loss exceeding 1,000 military personnel …
LRAs and developers may finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief that they can rely on a federal statute to protect them from liability for undiscovered contamination at BRAC sites, following a federal appeals court ruling earlier this month concluding that regulatory actions carried out by environmental agencies are covered under the law. The decision by the Federal Circuit — which reverses the finding of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in a case brought by Indian Harbor Insurance to recover costs to remove soil contamination at the former Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Tustin, Calif. — settles for now the question of how broadly the federal courts will interpret Section 330 of the 1993 defense authorization act …
The Solano County Board of Supervisors was scheduled this week to approve an economic diversification study intended to craft a strategy to reduce the local economy’s reliance on Travis Air Force Base in northern California. If the board approves the study, the county would receive a $370,000 grant from DOD’s Office of Economic Adjustment. The county would be required to contribute a 10 percent in-kind match of $41,000, which would be provided by staff managing the project …
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the incoming ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, criticized the Obama administration on Thursday for blaming lawmakers for the ongoing dispute over how to replace almost $500 billion in automatic defense cuts, instead of collaborating on a solution. “Rather than simply blaming Congress … it is my hope that you and the [White House] will work with Congress to ensure that an agreement can be reached to spare our military from further devastating cuts …