Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the U.S. Army, Europe's (USAREUR) plans to draw down its forces and close various military facilities and installations in Europe, focusing on: (1) plans for the reduction in force; (2) plans to maintain accountability and control over equipment disposition, Army personnel transfer, and facility disposition; and (3) issues that could affect the drawdown plans.

GAO found that: (1) by November 1990, USAREUR had developed a comprehensive drawdown implementation plan to ensure consideration of and planning for logistics, public affairs, security, and facility transfer issues before the drawdown began; (2) USAREUR established specific procedures and created teams of logistics experts to improve equipment oversight and control; (3) USAREUR established procedures and additional support to assist units in transferring facilities to the host nation government; (4) USAREUR implementation of its drawdown plan was affected by the U.S. deployment of its troops and equipment to the Middle East, with some forces scheduled for drawdown deployed to Saudi Arabia and delayed departure of other units; and (5) concerns regarding the USAREUR comprehensive drawdown plan primarily involved the 180-day time frame, upgrading of equipment and facilities, and USAREUR capability of handling a drawdown.