Virginia and the Joint Forces Command

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced this week that he is considering shutting down the Joint Forces Command which is operating out of Norfolk, Virginia.  In a decision based upon the Pentagon’s budget, Gates said that “The culture of endless money that has taken hold must be replaced by a culture of savings and restraint.” With a budget of around $240 Million (according to the Washington Post), the decision is not due to a reduction in the Pentagon’s budget, but rather a better use of funds.

Naturally, elected officials from Virginia denounced the idea. Governor Bob McDonnell held a news conference with other politicians, announcing the formation of a state commission tasked to secure and expand the presence of the military and national security facilities and operations within the state. Additionally, McDonnell stated “this administration is cutting investments in national defense in order to pay for massive new social programs.” Even Democrat Senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb (former Secretary of the Navy) came out against the decision. Webb wondered if the command was the best item to cut due to their successful role in increasing the efficiency of the military.

Out of curiosity, I decided to log onto Facebook to see what Virginians were saying about this decision. Looking up McDonnell’s official page, the comments ranged from the emotional to the political to the economical. Some comments by the users included:

Comments calling Democrats anti-military:
User 1: As with previous D Administrations, the ONLY place they find to cut is defense. Not saying Def cuts aren’t possible, but like this, they are usually politically motivated and counterproductive.

User 2: A weaker America, shades of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Weaken America and the world loses respect and we fall under attack, history does repeat itself. Help stop the nonsense Governor.

Comments citing the action as retribution towards Virginia for challenging the Administration:
User 3: Purely political!!! Punish Va for going republican.

User 4: Obama is seeking revenge against Virginia and its Republican governor and AG.

Comments calling out Republicans about government spending:
User 5: Folks always want cuts until the cuts are close to home. These cuts are not all government jobs, many will be private sector contractors as well.

User 6: Look, just saying, the crowd that wants everything cut, less government, less spending, more money to spend for themselves never seems to want to cut anything unless it doesn’t effect them. Makes your whole arg…ument that Washington is out of control seem meaningless.

Comments about the economic impact to the region:
User 7: Closing JFCOM kills a lot of jobs here in VA, it makes military members who already move too much have to move again and screws those of us who were told we’d be here for three or more years so we jumped in and bought homes.

User 8: As someone one who lives in the Hampton Roads area, if JFCOM closes, it would be devastating to this region.

If this proposal goes through, it is my hope that the draw-down takes a little longer than the one-year timeline that Gates has proposed. A sudden draw-down of the command (roughly 5000 military personnel, government employees, and contractors) could create an avoidable economic vacuum that will hurt local businesses.

I have to credit Users 5 and 6 for pointing out that people are all for reductions in the government until it impacts themselves. Someone will always be negatively impacted when government is scaled back, so you can’t have a double-standard when the cuts are in your own backyard.

Virginia is second only to California for the revenue it generates as a result of the presence of military and national security facilities. As such, regions like Norfolk have handled the economic downturn well – even with BRAC moves taking place. The Commonwealth of Virginia could withstand the economic impact of the closure of the command, even though thousands of households would be impacted.

I don’t fault McDonnell and the elected officials for challenging this decision, though I do think that they need to make sure they don’t come across as being hypocritical in their arguments for saving JFCOM.