Posts Tagged ‘mission support/community partnerships’

A hearing by the House Armed Services’ Readiness Subcommittee this week will provide the first opportunity for the Pentagon and defense communities to see if the mood on Capitol Hill has changed when it comes to granting DOD’s looming request for new base closure rounds. The Obama administration has not yet requested the new rounds yet — it doesn’t plan to deliver its fiscal 2014 budget request until April — but last month then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta revealed that the department would request a new round of base closures as part of its budget proposal …

The state of Hawaii will receive a $26.6 million grant from DOD to renovate and expand an elementary school at Wheeler Army Airfield/Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, the department announced Thursday. The federal funding comes from $500 million allocated to DOD’s Office of Economic Adjustment by Congress in the fiscal 2011 and 2012 spending bills to construct, renovate, repair or expand public schools located on military installations …

Statutory changes to the BRAC statute could improve congressional oversight of a future base closure round and provide greater assurances that projected costs and savings from specific recommendations are realized, according to a new study by the Government Accountability Office. The primary objective of BRAC 2005 was not eliminating excess capacity, but rather transforming the military by realigning base structure to better meet the needs of force structure while fostering jointness among the services. As a result, many recommendations were not expected to produce 20-year net savings, the report found …

The relocation of about 5,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam is on track to be completed by 2020, a six-year delay from the original goal of 2014, Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told lawmakers Tuesday. Locklear urged the House Armed Services Committee to accelerate funding for the realignment of forces in the Asia-Pacific region, which also includes shifting several thousand Marines from Japan to Hawaii. That realignment has a 2026 completion target …

The Navy will ground four air wings in April and cancel eight ship deployments, Secretary Ray Mabus announced Saturday in the wake of sequestration. The moves will save $10 billion the service needs to cut before Sept. 30 as a result of the across-the-board spending reductions, reported Military Times. Other changes include suspending basic flight training for pilot and flight officer trainees, and slowing depot maintenance for the Marine Corps …

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell reconstituted the state’s Military Installations and Defense Activities Commission last Friday in response to the start of sequestration which is slated to trim $40-plus billion from defense spending before the end of the fiscal year. The panel will be responsible for assessing the impact on Virginia of the sequester as well as future BRAC activities, and offering recommendations to address those actions …

Actions required to complete base closures, including cleanup activities, could be delayed as the Army faces a funding shortfall in fiscal 2013 due to the sequester, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno told lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday. Delays in completing documents, permits, policy approvals, contracts and other actions are expected due to civilian furloughs and reductions to the contractor personnel who oversee and carry out the BRAC program, Odierno stated in the written testimony he submitted to the House Military Construction-Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee …

While Air Force officials have said over the past year they have a substantial amount of excess infrastructure that a new base closure round could address, the Army hasn’t been as clear about its interest in a new BRAC round. According to written testimony from Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army would benefit from a new round as well, primarily due to reductions in the service’s end strength slated to occur over the next several years …

Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter sent letters to the governors of 10 states slated to endure the harshest impacts from sequestration, alerting them to the direct and indirect consequences $40-plus billion in across-the-board spending reductions will heap on their states’ military installations. The 10 states projected to suffer the most are California, Virginia, Texas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Alabama, and Washington. All states will be affected, but those 10 will bear the largest brunt …

In his first press conference as defense secretary held on the day sequestration initially went into effect, Chuck Hagel bluntly outlined the consequences for each of the services. “The Navy will gradually stand down at least four wings. The first wing will stand down in April. Effective immediately, Air Force flying hours will be cut back. This will have a major impact on training and readiness …