Federal Drive

David Vine: Managing DoD’s overseas real estate

The Pentagon has proposed base closures for the past four years, and Congress keeps saying no. Among the most costly defense activities is maintaining some 1,00...

August 28, 2015 9:43 am

< a min read

The Pentagon has proposed base closures for the past four years, and Congress keeps saying no. Among the most costly defense activities is maintaining some 1,000 bases, camps and airfields around the world. How did DoD wind up with so many bases overseas in the first place? David Vine is an associate professor of anthropology at American University and author of "Base Nation: How Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World." He joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to offer some insight into how the military could rationalize some of this real estate.