U.S. Military Presence in Europe: Issues Related to the Drawdown
Abstract
Before going into the details of these topics, I will first summarize our work. While the size of U.S. forces has been drastically reduced, there has been no reduction in their missions. In addition, frequent changes in the planned size of U.S. forces in Europe have hampered efforts to draw down in an orderly and cost effective manner. Regarding financial issues, on the negative side, negotiations with Germany on the residual value of U.S. real property investments left behind are bogged down and high-level intervention is needed to break the deadlock. On the positive side, good progress has been made in terminating thousands of local national employees at closing bases. While the new indemnity agreement with German unions has increased U.S. liabilities, it appears to have reduced litigation and expedited the lengthy termination process. Regarding burden sharing, no new agreements have been reached. To release $175 million in restricted Operations and Maintenance obligational authority, DOD certified that the percentage of stationing costs paid by NATO allies have gone up. However, some of the costs paid by these allies appear overstated to us.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 27, 1993
- Accession Number
- AD1179621
Entities
People
- Joseph E. Kelley
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office