Base siting decisions are driven by bureaucratic imperatives rather than military need

Evidence

Even if the consolidation idea wasn’t a cynical way to win congressional funds, it seems that the decision not to consolidate was, at the very least, a cynical way to avoid possibly losing a prized base and to cover up the embarrassment of spending hundreds of millions on unnecessary and underutilized facilities. Either way, military necessity does not seem like the primary motive. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 768

Categorization

• XREF: Supports the book’s broader thesis that the permanent base network exists for institutional and political reasons, echoing the earlier chapter’s framing of bases as empire-serving rather than defense-serving.