John Kerry's stance on Troop Realignment

Troop Realignment: The United States military stations thousands of the United States military personnel on bases around the world. This practice was a direct result of the Cold War and was designed so that the U.S. was capable of defending a variety of countries and regions from communism on short notice. Since the Cold War, and more specifically, as a direct result of the current War on Terror, the type of military necessary to fight global wars has changed. Both candidates talk extensively about modernizing our military and one way to modernize our military has been proposed by the Bush administration's troop realignment proposal.

John Kerry:

Description of candidate's position: Kerry does not support the Bush administration's troop realignment. Rather, his proposal for troop realignment is on modernizing the military, which includes adding 40,000 active duty troops to relieve pressure on the U.S. forces, doubling the capability of Army Special Forces, and making homeland security an additional mission of the National Guard. Although Kerry argues that Bush's realignment proposal is flawed, he does not propose any specific action for the troops in Asia and Europe nor does he offer a proposal for the military bases that exist around the world.

Quotation from the candidate: "I want to say something about the plan that the President announced on Monday to withdraw 70,000 troops from Asia and Europe… Let's be clear: the President's vaguely stated plan does not strengthen our hand in the war against terror. And in no way relieves the strain on our overextended military personnel. And this hastily announced plan raises more doubts about our intentions and our commitments than it provides real answers. For example, why are we unilaterally withdrawing 12,000 troops from the Korean Peninsula at the very time we are negotiating with North Korea, a country that really has nuclear weapons?" August 18, 2004, from

Assessment of the proposal:

Positive: General Wesley Clark, former Democratic Presidential Nominee and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Chief of the United States European Command, argues that Kerry is correct in questioning President Bush's move to realign 70,000 U.S. troops from Europe and Asia. Clark believes that "this ill-conceived move [by Bush] and its timing seem politically motivated rather than designed to strengthen our national security".

Negative: Retired Major General James Livingston, and Medal of Honor Recipient, says that "John Kerry's criticism of the President's troop realignment plan illustrates his pre-9/11 view of the world." He goes on to explain that Kerry does not understand the realities of modern-day warfare and proposes a military strategy that takes the United States back to the Cold War.

Comparison: Bush announced his troop realignment plan that would bring 70,000 troops from foreign bases back to the United States, which he argued would better equip the military to train and respond to current threats in a more efficient manner. Kerry does not endorse this troop realignment and believes that Bush only made the announcement for political gain. Kerry does not offer a direct alternative to the Bush announcement, but has proposed increasing the number of active duty troops and those involved in special units in order to help meet the threats posed by the War on Terror.

Link to Bush's Troop Realignment issue brief.