Guest column - How Hampton is addressing the possible loss of JFCOM
Tuesday, 31 August 2010 07:00
Tweet
By Bruce Sturk Director of Federal Facilities Support,
City of Hampton
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announcement that he intends to close United States Joint Forces Command (JFCOM), based in Norfolk and with an annex in Suffolk, should serve as a wake up call for residents in Hampton, as well as the Hampton Roads region as a whole.
While the proposed closure would most certainly create significant economic impacts to the region, more important is how the potential impact to joint training could be harmful to our national security.
In the early 1980’s, congress became increasingly concerned that our separate military branches (Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force) were ill equipped and inadequately prepared to fight as a cohesive joint team. In 1986, the federal government passed the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986. According to Wikipedia, it was "an attempt to fix problems caused by inter-service rivalry which had emerged during the Vietnam War, contributed to the catastrophic failure of the Iranian hostage rescue mission in 1980, and which were still evident in the invasion of Grenada in 1983."
Fast forward to 1999 when JFCOM was formed and undertook several vital missions to train our services in how to fight jointly. For example, JFCOM develops joint operational concepts, tests these concepts through rigorous experimentation, educates joint leaders, trains joint task force commanders and staffs, and recommends joint solutions to the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines to better integrate their warfighting capabilities.
| Click HERE to read an editorial on JFCOM by Hampton businessman Jack Ezzell | |
| Click HERE to go to the JFCOM Resource Library from Hampton Roads Partnership (HRP) | |
The Virginia congressional delegation, led by Senator Mark Warner is focused on a strategy to work the JFCOM closure issue. The Senator asked affected parties to form a JFCOM “task force.” Subsequently, Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance (HRMFFA) was asked to take the lead on considering six specific areas:
1. an examination of legal options
2. a plan for congressional engagement
3. a lobbying effort
4. a plan for engagement of localities
5. a plan for contractor engagement
6. a plan for engagement of affected businesses
2. a plan for congressional engagement
3. a lobbying effort
4. a plan for engagement of localities
5. a plan for contractor engagement
6. a plan for engagement of affected businesses
Each area has focus team leads who will work to develop specific courses of action. The intent is to focus on the unique capabilities JFCOM provides in training warfighters among the services to fight jointly. A "plan B" to identify specific core capabilities that are vitally important to the Department of Defense in providing joint warfighting training is a priority for the congressional delegation.
Senator Warner understands the economic impact and challenges but cautioned against a parochial approach to the issue and strongly recommended the region and commonwealth engage in a holistic approach in supporting the six step plan he laid out.
Of course Hampton’s city council adopted a JFCOM resolution fully supporting our congressional delegation’s plans to address the proposed JFCOM closure. Furthermore, Mayor Molly Ward, City Manager Mary Bunting and I are also fully engaged in various meetings, commissions and working groups addressing the JFCOM issue.
Any action to downsize or eliminate JFCOM can't help but deliver an economic blow to Hampton. Many individuals and businesses associated with the command live or are based in our city. We are committed to doing everything possible to mitigate that impact.Bruce Sturk is Director of Federal Facilities Support for the city of Hampton. He works closely with Langley Air Force Base, NASA Langley Research Center and other federal facilities in the area.
