Pentagon to unveil plans for foreign bases next February

The Pentagon expects to reveal its plans for the worldwide basing of its forces by next February, in time for the fiscal 2006 budget submission and the start of the domestic base closing process, a senior planning officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday.

That plan is expected to make major changes in the large presence of U.S. forces in well-established bases in Western Europe and East Asia, moving thousands of troops back to the United States or to smaller, more austere bases in Eastern Europe and perhaps Central Asia.

Those relocations of foreign-based forces could have a significant impact on the number of bases that need to be closed in the United States.

"The joint chiefs are absolutely convinced that the way we are based today is not the way we need to be," Marine Lt. Gen. James Cartwright told a luncheon audience at the annual Navy League exposition.

The basing scheme would shift from a "garrison mode" left over from the Cold War focus on the Soviet Union to an "expeditionary mode" that provides the flexibility and mobility necessary to deal with uncertain threats of the future, said Cartwright, director of force structure, resources and assessments of the joint chiefs.

Cartwright said the relocation of forces "is very complicated" and "will not happen in one year."