Army reconnaissance teams are preparing to visit 15 cities that could host the new Futures Command headquarters with as many as 500 personnel.
The Army started with a list of about 30 potential locations and on April 17 notified Congress of 15 that had made the cut. On the list are Atlanta; Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, Raleigh, N.C., San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle, according to a copy of the letter Army Undersecretary Ryan McCarthy sent April 17 to House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) obtained by Defense Daily.
“We spent the past few months assessing innovation hubs across the United States as potential headquarters locations. Based on this analysis we will send letters to 15 city mayors requesting an information package that identifies particular strengths and provides us more granular data to help us refine our locations analysis,” McCarthy wrote in the letter.
The headquarters will be “small, dynamic and composed of the very best from our military and civilian workforce, probably less than 500 personnel,” McCarthy said in the letter.
McCarthy, who is overseeing creation of Army Futures Command (AFC), said he plans to send teams to reconnoiter most, if not all, of the finalists. Once that list is further narrowed to four or five, he and Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville will personally visit and then make a final recommendation to Secretary Mark Esper and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley in “early summer.”
The Army is looking for a city with good quality of life, reasonable cost of living and, most importantly access to research institutions, academia and entrepreneurial talent. It should be “located near leading academic and commercial institutions to harness the best talent possible in emerging technology and innovation,” he wrote.
“From an academic standpoint, it’s the software development, systems engineering and then business,” McCarthy told reporters April 17 during a visit to Fort Belvoir, Va. “It’s for us to get closer relationships with companies that work very well with the technologies that we need. Working with industry to help us solve our problems.”
AFC will focus on the Army’s six modernization priorities and the cross-functional teams (CFTs) already pursuing those will reorganize under the new command and its three subordinate commands: Futures and Concepts, Combat Development, and Combat Systems. Only the Futures Command headquarters and command group will be situated in the city that is chosen.
Lawmakers are eager for progress reports on where AFC headquarters will be located and have brought up the issue during several posture hearings on the Hill this week. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on April 12 told Esper and Milley he wanted the process decided based on the site’s merit and not because of any political considerations.
“I will never fight for a dollar in North Carolina that can be better spent somewhere else,” Tillis said during an Army budget posture hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “I look forward to that selection process being a level playing field absent political pressure to go any one place or another because of the jobs or economic impact.”
Tillis said it was on the states and cities under consideration to present the best possible case for the Army locating the command within their borders. The Army should in turn have a well-documented case for locating the command where it ultimately chooses, Tillis said.
Milley chimed in to say the list of potential cities was being evaluated with no thought to politics.
“I can assure you, senator, that Secretary Esper has laid out a rigorous process,” Milley said. “It’s totally apolitical. It’s totally based on data and analysis. … We are very rigorously and deliberately going through that and evaluating each location based solely on its own merits with no political interference whatsoever.”
However, politicking to host the command has begun, as evidenced by an April 19 exchange between Rep. Austin Scott (R- Ga.) and Deputy Chief of Staff LT. Gen. Aundre Piggee. Scott said he hoped the command would be located in Atlanta, adding that “Georgia has been good to the Army and we hope the Army will be good to Georgia.”
Piggee confirmed that Atlanta was one of the 15 finalists and said that he was familiar with the city because his daughter is in college there.
“I’m well aware of the ambience and the capability that exists in that great state and in Atlanta in particular and I’m sure it will get it’s due, rigorous evaluation as we review all the potential candidates,” Piggee said.
No one has been nominated to lead the command yet, but McCarthy said a “couple of officers are in the interview process.” Because AFC chief will be a four-star billet, the officer tapped to take the position must be confirmed by the Senate.