SHAPE News Summary & Analysis 10 February 2003 NATO
Members of the U.S. delegation who took part in a security conference in Munich at the weekend said the United States is contemplating radically changing the nature of its military presence in Europe, moving from a “garrison” system of big, heavily staffed Cold War-era bases to a more expeditionary posture in which troops would be deployed to the continent on a rotational basis, writes the Washington Post.
According to the newspaper, several members of the delegation spoke enthusiastically at the briefing they were given by Gen. Jones on his preliminary thoughts about possible ways to overhaul the U.S. military presence in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. They reportedly said they expect a permanent U.S. military presence to be cut from the current level of about 100,000 personnel, most of them Army.
Rather, they said, Gen. Jones and other top Defense Department officials are contemplating something more akin to the U.S. troop presence in Kuwait, where tanks, trucks and other military gear are stored, with troops flying in to exercise or deploy with it.
The article quotes Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), one of those briefed by Gen. Jones, saying Gen. Jones “envisions a transition to bases with pre-positioned equipment and skeleton crews.” A Senate staff member who attended the briefing is also quoted saying Gen. Jones raised the possibility of the U.S. securing access to a new base in Eastern Europe through which it would rotate troops on training missions.
The newspaper stresses that if implemented, the change would be one of the biggest in the history of U.S. military bases in Europe. Even discussing the shift sends the signal in Europe that the United States is ready to match changes in the Alliance’s political structure with changes in its military structure, notes the article.
The New York Times, Feb. 9, reported that Congressional officials who were briefed on the proposal said Gen. Jones is considering a plan to scale back the presence of U.S. troops in Germany in favor of lighter, more mobile units that could jump from country to country on a moment’s notice.
The plan, which appears to be in the early phases of development, grows out of Gen. Jones’ experience as commandant of the Marine Corps, where he championed the idea of having bare-boned “lily pad” bases scattered around the world, rather than having U.S. forces tied down to a few sprawling bases, the article said. It expected, however, that the idea is sure to be contentious for two reasons: Any talk of pulling U.S. forces out of Germany, no matter how preliminary, is sure to heighten the impression that Germany and the United States are further pulling apart. Second, Gen. Jones’ idea would impose a major cultural change on the Army, effectively asking it to behave more like the Marine Corps.
The newspaper insisted that while Gen. Jones’ proposal might appear to grow out of recent German-American tensions, Pentagon planners have been searching for ways to restructure American forces in Europe, and particularly Germany, since the Cold War ended.
Based on the U.S. media reports, France’s AFP writes: “The United States is studying changing its military presence to become more mobile instead of relying on the large bases currently housed there. The idea, recently presented to U.S. lawmakers by the new commander of U.S. forces in Europe, Gen. Jones, would be designed to adapt the U.S. presence from its current Cold War structure.”
