Stakeholder benefits from the status quo stall base closures.

Evidence

Government officials and military personnel in the United States, Japan, and Okinawa frequently express frustration at the slow pace of closing Futenma and moving marines off the island. Then again, for many of them, the status quo hasn’t been so bad. The military still has its bases and lots of new housing. Japanese officials have shelled out billions of Japanese taxpayer dollars, but much of it has gone to Tokyo construction firms and other Japanese companies. Landowners, politicians, a few thousand base employees, and some businesses in Okinawa continue to benefit. Kevin Maher is gone, but bureaucrats like him on all sides have steady employment discussing the Okinawa issue. As my student group reached the end of our two-week exploration of bases, I increasingly wondered if many are more than content just to keep things as they are. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 869