Virginia Senator Jim Webb has convinced the chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services to hold a full committee hearing on the closing of the U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) in Norfolk, along with the other efficiency initiatives announced by Secretary of Defense Gates. The hearing will be scheduled when the Senate reconvenes in September.
From the press release:
“I commend Chairman Levin for agreeing to schedule this important hearing on the future of JFCOM and the additional efficiency initiatives announced by Secretary Gates,” said Webb, who chairs the Senate Committee on Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee. “Congress has an essential constitutional oversight role in such matters. I believe that further action by the President or Secretary Gates should be suspended until Congress has had ample opportunity to review the full scope of the Secretary’s actions.”
In his response to Senator Webb’s request, Chairman Levin said, “I share the Secretary’s objectives of reducing ‘duplication, overhead, and excess in the defense enterprise,’ and instilling ‘a culture of savings and restraint’ across the Department of Defense. At the same time, I agree that the far-reaching initiatives announced by the Secretary deserve close scrutiny from our Committee.”
The Virginia delegation representing the region sent a letter to Secretary Gates regarding the elimination of JFCOM. The letter was signed by Senators Webb and Mark Warner, and Representatives Rob Wittman, Glenn Nye, Bobby Scott, and Randy Forbes.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Think this is political gamesmanship, not statesmanship.
My understanding is that closing a command can be decided by the Secretary, closing a base requires input from a wider range of folks.
If the past and current commanders of the command are in agreement with the decision, there must be good reason.
I understand the pain this will cause, but seems to me another instance of politicians, on both sides, talking about cutting spending and needing to prioritize, but only when the cuts are in other folks spending or other folks priorities.
In terms of who the decision maker is in this instance, yes, Secretary Gates can make this decision without Congressional consultation, although I imagine he’s more than willing to take some time to allow the delegation to voice their concerns for the sake of civility.
As far as political grandstanding and the politics between Congress and DoD goes, Secretary Gates has been looking high and low for budget cuts that he can make responsibly because he recognized that current levels of defense spending were unsustainable in the long run even before the recession. His chief obstacle thus far has been the United States Congress, which has on an annual basis been shoveling more money than even the Pentagon’s requested into personnel programs so that Members can brag about how much they support the troops as well as lobbying for their pet defense projects in order to bring lucrative federal contracts to their respective home districts (all the while bemoaning the costs of the wars and the ballooning deficit). All of these projects and programs are going to tie up for decades portions of the annual defense budget that could be used for actual warfighting, so Gates is trying to trim where he can, but Congress rebuffs him at every turn.
I can’t help but imagine that he’s feeling no small measure of satisfaction at having found something that Congress can’t stop him from cutting.
I’m also growing more and more concerned about what the next round of BRAC closings is going to look like if we can’t at least start a discussion of how to make some responsible cuts to defense spending now.