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Defense Department policy officials and the independent Overseas Base Commission will meet July 18 to discuss the cost of moving 70,000 troops from installations in Europe, the Korean peninsula and elsewhere.

Cost figures for the massive relocation vary widely -- from the $4 billion the Pentagon plans to budget through fiscal 2011 to as much as $25 billion estimated by some department officials.

The meeting was set late Wednesday night in response to a June 30 memo from the commission to Pentagon policy chief Douglas Feith requesting more information on the cost of the move and how the Pentagon intends to budget and pay for it over the next several years.

In addition to cost figures, the memo asks for more details about how domestic bases will handle the influx of troops from overseas, as well as any agreements with other countries to host new overseas installations.

"We are looking forward to that information," a commission official said. "We asked for quite a bit."

Commissioners will use the information to complete their report, due Aug. 15 to Congress and the White House. The commission released an interim report in May, expressing concerns that the Bush administration was moving too quickly and making overseas basing decisions before it completed a list of major studies, including the sweeping Quadrennial Defense Review.

The Pentagon meeting falls just hours before the overseas commission is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill before the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, which is evaluating Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's recommendation to shutter more than 33 major domestic installations and close or restructure hundreds of others.

COMMENTS

• The South Koreans and Germans should be paying for the re-location. Afterall, we shipped over there to secure their countries. Now that they sell billions in autos and goods to this country, tell me again, why are we paying for this? By the way, North Korea should probably chip in, too. GovExec.com reader Posted July 18, 2005 7:07 PM
• I know how the program will be paid for. By getting rid of government employees, through NSPS and pay for performance. Both programs are designed to get rid of civil servants. Of course there won't be enough money there to pay for all of it but it is a start. After we screw the civil servants then we can start screwing the contractors. That will make them happy GovExec.com reader Posted July 15, 2005 7:12 AM
• Take that $25 Billion and double it. You might get close to the cost of the moves that way. GovExec.com reader Posted July 15, 2005 9:50 AM