Washington D.C.Ranking Member Smith released the following statement about the Defense Department’s recently released report about excess DOD infrastructure: 

“In this current budget environment, rather than waste money on excess infrastructure, we need to locate potential efficiencies and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely to enhance the military’s capacity to meet our current and future national security challenges.”

“This report makes clear that DOD maintains a large amount of infrastructure that it does not need. Disposing of excess infrastructure through a transparent, deliberative, and independent process, such as another round of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), can be done in a responsible manner that enhances military readiness and frees up funds that can be used to strengthen our military in other ways.”

“I have consistently supported a responsible BRAC process that would produce exactly these kinds of efficiencies. I will continue to work toward legislation that authorizes an additional BRAC round, which also addresses the concerns and skepticism that linger from the 2005 BRAC. This study contributes substantially to our understanding of the value that another BRAC process would afford. While DOD has yet to provide the congressionally mandated study on excess infrastructure that was required by the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act, I fully expect the Department of Defense to combine the information in the report submitted today with the additional material required by Congress to further make their case for another BRAC round‎."