ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The Army needs to be better prepared for the destructive power of climate change, Lt. Gen. Douglas Gabram, the Army Installation Management Command commander, told Congress. 

“The Army takes very seriously the threats that climate change poses to our installations and facilities,” Gabram said March 26 in testimony before the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee. 

Winter Storm Uri, a major February storm, caused severe damage across the southeastern United States with ice, snow and blackouts. 

Army installations need to step up defenses against a combination of new and emerging threats, according to a new Rand Corp. report that warns traditional physical security, antiterrorism and emergency preparedness won’t be enough to provide safe outposts.

Army installations, once isolated and self-reliant outposts of the pre-World War II nation, are now part of the highly contested national security battlespace that need to be modernized and hardened, said Alex A. Beehler, assistant Army secretary for installations, energy and environment.

“Installation operations are more crucial today than ever before to protect our nation and our way of life,” Beehler said.

The Army made “significant improvements” in barracks and housing though the “inventory of facilities in poor or failing condition grew from 22 to 25 percent this past year,” Lt. Gen. Gwen Bingham, assistant chief of staff for installation management, told Congress.

The Army has two big goals for installations, moving to make them self-sufficient for at least 14 days without outside power, water and other utilities, and trying to harness technology to improve efficiency and security and reshape installation services, said Jordan Gillis, acting Army secretary for installations, energy and environment.

Army bases are no longer sanctuaries but are “the first skirmish lines” in future warfare, says a new report from the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare.

Called “Modernization for Industrial Age U.S. Army Installations,” the report by Col. Patrick M. Duggan, a career Special Forces officer with cyber experience, argues for rethinking the role and purpose of installations and making certain they are included in the discussion about modernization priorities.

The Army can no longer afford to place readiness before installation management, a senior service official says.

“The reality of today is the Army is taking risks to fund training and unit readiness,” said J. Randall Robinson, the acting assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment, during the recent Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C.

The Army is reducing its facilities footprint without closing bases, with some “positive results,” according to the assistant chief of staff for installation management.

Lt. Gen. Gwen Bingham said the squeeze on bases is part of an initiative to make “all reasonable efforts to maximize space utilization, consolidate units into our best facilities and dispose of excess assets.”