JFCOM finds few supporters outside of Virginia

[Blue_Tires]

WASHINGTON

Top defense officials pressed their case for shutting down the Norfolk-based Joint Forces Command before a Senate committee Tuesday as Virginia's elected leaders pushed back, arguing that no research has been produced to justify the closure.

Virginia's congressional representatives hope the hearing, and another today before a House committee, will help sway their colleagues from other states to oppose dismantling the command, known as JFCOM. So far, though, there's been little opposition from outside the state, and one veteran senator, John McCain of Arizona, endorsed the plan.

Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Defense Secretary Robert Gates decided to recommend closing JFCOM after about 30 meetings with senior military advisers. They concluded that JFCOM's force provision function was redundant and that its other two functions - promoting training and doctrine across the armed forces - "no longer justified a four-star command with a billion-dollar budget."

Lynn and other officials said the Pentagon must become more cost-conscious and shift resources from less-vital functions to supporting troops and modernizing the military. Over the next five years, Gates has directed the services to find $100 billion in overhead savings and redirect it to more pressing needs.

Lynn noted that JFCOM had 2,100 people and a $300 million budget in 2000, its first year of operation. By 2010, he said, it had about 6,000 employees and a $1 billion budget - "without any significant expansion of mission or responsibility."
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/09/jfcom-finds-few-supporters-outside-virginia

It's been funny for me to see the local acrobatic backtracking from the anti-tax, anti-federal newborn deficit hawks as they scramble to save their big gummitt meal ticket...

[Jeneral2885]

1. Over bloated

US Military.