Restructuring the US Military Bases in Germany Scope, Impacts, and Opportunities
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B.I.C.C BONN INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR CONVERSION . INTERNATIONALES KONVERSIONSZENTRUM BONN report4 Restructuring the US Military Bases in Germany Scope, Impacts, and Opportunities june 95 Introduction 4 In 1996 the United States will complete its dramatic post-Cold US Forces in Germany 8 War military restructuring in ● Military Infrastructure in Germany: From Occupation to Cooperation 10 Germany. The results are stag- ● Sharing the Burden of Defense: gering. In a six-year period the A Survey of the US Bases in United States will have closed or Germany During the Cold War 12 reduced almost 90 percent of its ● After the Cold War: bases, withdrawn more than contents Restructuring the US Presence 150,000 US military personnel, in Germany 17 and returned enough combined ● Map: US Base-Closures land to create a new federal state. 1990-1996 19 ● Endstate: The Emerging US The withdrawal will have a serious Base Structure in Germany 23 affect on many of the communi- ties that hosted US bases. The US Impact on the German Economy 26 military’syearly demand for goods and services in Germany has fal- ● The Economic Impact 28 len by more than US $3 billion, ● Impact on the Real Estate and more than 70,000 Germans Market 36 have lost their jobs through direct and indirect effects. Closing, Returning, and Converting US Bases 42 Local officials’ ability to replace those jobs by converting closed ● The Decision Process 44 bases will depend on several key ● Post-Closure US-German factors. The condition, location, Negotiations 45 and type of facility will frequently ● The German Base Disposal dictate the possible conversion Process 47 options. Nevertheless, human variables—such as the conversion Case Studies 48 approach, negotiating abilities, market knowledge and even the ● Fulda Military Community 50 creativity of local and state offi- ● Mainz Military Community 58 cials—is just as important. ● Hahn Air Base 66 This report attempts to fill the Conclusions and existing information deficit regard- Recommentations 76 ing the scope, nature, and status of the US drawdown as well as References 80 the post-closure impacts and redevelopment opportunities for Statistical Annex 83 Germany. Finally, the report takes a close look at the specific ● Part I: Status of US Army Sites in conversion efforts of the Fulda Germany by Military Community and Mainz Army Military Status of US Air Force Bases in Communities and Hahn Air Base. Germany ● Part II: Officially Reduced Sites: A condensed German version is Status and Sources available upon request. ● Part III: Pre-1991 USAREUR Base Editor: Closures Alisa M. Federico Cover photo: Returning home. Private Arnaldo Soto- Cuevas of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment at the Fulda Military Community closing ceremony on October 8, 1993. 2 B.I.C.C B.I.C.C BONN INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR CONVERSION . INTERNATIONALES KONVERSIONSZENTRUM BONN report4 Restructuring the US Military Bases in Germany: Scope, Impacts, and Opportunities by Keith B. Cunningham and Andreas Klemmer june 95 report 4 june 95 Introduction of the Soviet Union and their satellites, support crisis response he end of the Cold War has Germany, which was organized into and be a key component of the Tbrought tremendous changes to Military Communities at the local US contribution to the North US overseas deployments. Those level. The US Air Force is organized Atlantic Treaty Organization changes are most severe in into more centralized Air Bases. (NATO) under the new NATO Germany, where more than 80 per- Strategy and US National cent of the United States’ troops in The New US Doctrine Military Strategy (Vest,1994, p.1). Europe were stationed during the Cold War. in Germany It is clear that this new strategy will not require Cold War force levels. Since the end of that confrontation, The United States no longer needs Although predictions were made the United States has withdrawn to protect Western Europe from the prior to the US withdrawal from nearly 200,000 troops from immediate threat of an invasion Germany, its ultimate scope and Germany—a reduction of more than from the east. Nevertheless, it still impact have not been determined to 75 percent. This drawdown has envisions Europe, and more specifi- date. allowed the United States to close cally Germany, as an important part many of its military bases in of the new political and security Germany and return them to local landscape. According to the US civilian authorities. Gauging the Department of Defense’s 1994 Report on Overseas Basing, current degree of local impact is more diffi- About the Authors cult for US bases overseas than it is doctrine is as follows: for US domestic bases. In the United Keith Cunningham, an American, is States, bases tend to be highly con- The European forward presence the project manager for base closure centrated, centralized facilities, force will be sufficient to pro- and conversion projects at BICC. while in Europe, bases tend to be mote US interests of access and collections of isolated sites. This is influence, contribute to stability Andreas Klemmer, a German, is a particularly true of the US Army in and transition of former states free-lance researcher for BICC. Figure 1: US European Deployments 1989 In thousands Source: DoD, 1989 Notes: Personnel figures include active duty and civilian personnel. 300 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Belgium Germany Greece Italy Nether- Portugal Spain United lands Kingdom 4 B.I.C.C introduction Assessing the Press, 1989), conducted a com- ■ Several case-specific economic munity-level inventory of the US impact studies were conducted US Drawdown military presence throughout early in the drawdown (1990- Europe in 1989, while Europe 1992). Most of these were As this unprecedented military with- After an American Withdrawal, accomplished by exclusively drawal from Germany enters its edited by Jane M. O. Sharp (NY: German research organizations final stages in early 1995, very little Oxford University Press, 1990), such as the Forschungsinstitut substantive analysis of it exists. To hypothesized about the security für Friedenspolitik, local orga- date, research has addressed the and economic impact of a com- nizations such as the Angestellten- issue in one of three ways. ■ plete US withdrawal before the kammer Bremen, and state or Several government and private withdrawal began. national government agencies. research organizations conduct- ■ Region-specific analyses of the They usually focused on the ed studies in 1989 and 1990 of economic importance of the US earliest closures, such as in the US presence in Germany and forces were conducted by most Bremerhaven and Zweibrücken. hypothesized about the possible of the German states. These Additional case studies are being ramifications of an American studies, however, did not focus conducted as the withdrawal withdrawal. Of this group, a two- on the United States, but rather continues. volume project conducted by the combined the impact of all mili- base closures Stockholm International Peace tary forces within their state. As the end of the drawdown moves Research Institute (SIPRI) was Some of them speculated about into sight, this study relieves the the most significant. Simon the effects potential reductions deficit of information regarding the Duke, in United States Military might have on the regional econ- scope and impact of the dramatic Forces and Installations in omy. changes in the US military presence Europe (NY: Oxford University Table 1: Major US Base Notes: * Authorized positions = the number of ** These bases were closed, or began Closures in Germany positions for which a site is appropriated closing, before 1991. Accurate area 1990-1995 funds each year. The US Army’s term of information was not available (Duke, Source: Statistical Annex art is ‘places, not faces,’ in which ‘faces’ 1989). is the actual number of positions filled. Closed Bases Authorized Positions* Acres Returned Lost Aschaffenberg Military Community 915 3,635 Bad Tölz Military Community** 446 Berlin Brigade Army Base 6,554 2,078 Bitburg Air Force Base 6,443 1,704 Frankfurt Military Community 10,505 714 Fulda Military Community 5,097 6,361 Göppingen Military Community** 4,350 Hahn Air Force Base 6,857 1,934 Heilbronn Military Community 1,456 1,165 Hessisch-Oldendorf Air Force Station 648 27 Lindsey Air Force Base 2,932 105 Mainz Military Community 5,662 1,192 Munich Military Community 3,082 378 Norddeutschland Military Community 7,440 906 Neu-Ulm Military Community** 4,100 Nürnberg Military Community 11,259 9,871 Pirmasens Military Community 8,881 4,629 Tempelhof Air Force Station 1,868 908 Wildflecken Military Community 3,436 18,023 Zweibrücken Air Force Base 3,142 654 Zweibrücken Military Community 3,326 101 Total for Base Closures 98,399 54,385 B.I.C.C 5 report 4 june 95 in Germany. In addition to organiz- Additionally, the US military forces state of Bremen and is twice as large ing, quantifying and analyzing these do not fill all of their authorized as the US District of Columbia. impacts, the report provides pre- positions—on average, 10 percent Third, the loss of more than US $3 viously unavailable macro- and of all authorized positions go billion in annual spending by the US micro-level base closure data for all unfilled (Deputy Chief of Staff for military in the German economy US sites throughout Germany. Conventional Forces in Europe, will adversely affect local retailers Finally, the paper offers case studies interview, 24 March 1995). and contractors. Figure 2 shows the to demonstrate opportunities and extent to which US military spend- obstacles in economic adjustment. ing in Germany has decreased since In this way, it may draw more accu- Impacts of the the end of the Cold War. rate conclusions about the nature of US Withdrawal the United States’ future German Converting US Military base structure, conversion plans at Although the loss of tens of thou- Bases returned sites, and achievable policy sands of jobs throughout Germany goals for both the German and US will have an adverse effect on the governments.