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New Report Continues to Outline and Quantify Economic Benefits of Monterey County Military Bases
On January 31, 2025, the Monterey Bay Defense Alliance hosted a breakfast at the Monterey Conference Center to introduce a new Monterey Military Economic Impact Report for 2025. Sponsors of the event were your Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, the Monterey County Business Council, and the cities of Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel.
The first Monterey Bay Defense Alliance economic impact report, Contributions of the Military to the Monterey County Economy, was introduced at a breakfast on June 3, 2021.
The Threat of Local Base Closures Remains Real
Under the Trump Administration’s strategic direction, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) may try to reallocate funding by identifying and eliminating military activities it deems duplicative and inefficient. Proposals may include a request to Congress to authorize a new round of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. In addition, the DoD has authority to close military installations with less than 300 civilian personnel under a less onerous procedure than larger bases. (The Heritage Foundation, an organization aligned with President Trump, has proposed increasing that threshold to 500 civilian personnel.)
Besides the prominent Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and Defense Language Institute (DLI) Foreign Language Center, the Monterey Peninsula hosts numerous small military operations on several Naval Support Activity Monterey properties and at the Presidio of Monterey. These include the Navy Research Lab, the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, the Institute for Security Governance, and Information Warfare Training Command (IWTC) Monterey.
The Ord Military Community on the former Fort Ord also includes military operations. For example, the eight-story building among the Fort Ord ruins in the City of Seaside is part of the Presidio of Monterey Annex and known as the Department of Defense Center Monterey Bay. It houses the Defense Manpower Data Center and other activities of DoD Defense Human Resources Activity. There are also two military installations at the southern border of Monterey County—Fort Hunter Liggett and Camp Roberts.
Monterey County military bases remain vulnerable to closures because of high costs of living and expensive housing. Former weaknesses related to public education and roadway conditions have measurably improved since the last BRAC round. However, water supply on much of the Monterey Peninsula is now constrained by the state’s 2009 Cease and Desist Order, and reliable electric power has become an issue after frequent PG&E power outages in the last couple of years. Your Chamber supports ways to mitigate or end these regional liabilities.
History of BRAC Actions Affecting Monterey County
At the end of the Cold War, there were four rounds of the Base Closure and Realignment Commissions: 1988 (BRAC I), 1991 (BRAC II), 1993 (BRAC III), and 1995 (BRAC IV). An additional fifth round (BRAC V) was implemented in 2005 to continue the transition from the Cold War to the “War on Terrorism.”
The 1991 (BRAC II) Base Closure and Realignment Commission recommended the closure of Fort Ord, one of the largest military bases in the country. It indeed closed, on September 30, 1994. More than 30 years later, Monterey County is still dealing with the impact, including how to demolish or reuse abandoned structures.
The 1991 (BRAC II), 1993 (BRAC III), and 1995 (BRAC IV) Base Closure and Realignment Commissions all considered the idea of closing the Presidio of Monterey and moving the Defense Language Institute (DLI) to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, where foreign language training would be contracted out to the University of Arizona. This did not happen.
In 2005, the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission recommended closure of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) office in the Presidio of Monterey Annex in Seaside. It closed in 2006. The Commission also considered consolidation of graduate institution facilities, including the Defense Language Institute (again) and the Naval Postgraduate School.
In the end, consolidation and closures of the graduate institutions didn’t happen in 2005. As stated in a Report to the President, “While the Commission found that consolidation of the schools would generate cost savings, it also determined that such actions could potentially degrade the military value of both institutions and the quality of their program graduates.”
The Monterey Peninsula attracts and retains high-quality personnel who enhance the military capabilities of existing bases. Local base closures would be a loss to the military as well as a significant blow to the regional economy.
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