Army Leaders: Another BRAC Needed

With the reduction in strength to 490,000 soldiers looming, the Army simply does not need as much infrastructure as it now has, the service’s housing and installations leaders say. As such, the Army is formalizing a base realignment and closure (BRAC) plan, to submit to Pentagon leadership and lawmakers on Capitol Hill in the coming months. Service leaders acknowledge the impact infrastructure reductions would have on communities that surround bases. The answer, they say, would be including local decision-makers in on a formal BRAC process. While not eliminating any adverse hardships, such input at least would give them a say in how the reductions would be implemented. Ideally, Army leadership would like to begin divestiture of unneeded and underutilized properties by 2017.