A little-known U.S. military facility in the Middle East is a model for the kind of American bases President Obama's new defense strategy suggests soon will pop up around the globe, a senior Pentagon official said Monday.
[CIA Boss Petraeus Weighs In On Defense Cuts.]
The U.S. commandos who swooped into Somalia to rescue two aid workers who had been kidnapped by pirates operated from an American base in Djibouti, said Michele Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy. She called the facility a prime example of the kinds of facilities from which the U.S. military will launch the "small-footprint operations" across the globe that are discussed in the Obama administration's new national defense strategy.
The Djibouti base is called Camp Lemonnier, according to a State Department fact sheet. Pentagon and other U.S. national security officials believe Washington needs more Lemonnier-like bases.
The Obama administration's defense strategy, released this month, says smaller annual Pentagon budgets "will require innovative and creative solutions to maintain our support for allies."
[Pentagon Faces Tough Sell on Base Closures.]
Flournoy spoke at a military conference in Washington sponsored by the Reserve Officers Association. The remarks likely are her final public ones in office; Friday is her final day in office.
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