Base Nation: Why Does America Have 750 Military Bases Overseas?

An Empire in All But Name

Americans don't think of their country as an empire. But if you define empire by the ability to project military force across the globe and maintain a permanent presence in sovereign nations, the United States is the most far-reaching empire in human history.

David Vine, a professor of anthropology at American University and author of Base Nation, spent years documenting this network. His research reveals a system that few Americans know exists, fewer understand, and almost no one has voted for.

Where the Bases Are

The $55 Billion Question

The Pentagon's own estimates put the annual cost of overseas bases at roughly $55 billion — though Vine's research suggests the true figure is significantly higher when accounting for construction, personnel, environmental remediation, and indirect costs. Some estimates range as high as $100-150 billion.

Okinawa: 75 Years of Occupation

Japan hosts more US military installations than any other country — 87 in total. The vast majority are concentrated on Okinawa, a tiny island chain that represents just 0.6% of Japan's total land area but hosts approximately 75% of all US military facilities in Japan.

For Okinawans, the US military presence is not an abstraction. It means:

• • Aircraft noise from Futenma air station in the middle of Ginowan city (population 100,000)
• • Environmental contamination — PFAS chemicals found in drinking water at 50× safe levels
• • Sexual assault — the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old girl by three US servicemen sparked massive protests; incidents have continued
• • Crashes and accidents — Osprey crashes, helicopter parts falling on schools
• • Land confiscation — bases built on seized farmland after WWII, never returned

Despite consistent polling showing a majority of Okinawans want the bases reduced or removed — including a 2019 referendum where 72% voted against new base construction — the US and Japanese governments have proceeded with building a new base at Henoko, destroying a pristine coral reef in the process.

Diego Garcia: Ethnic Cleansing for a Military Base

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the United States and United Kingdom carried out one of the most cynical acts of the Cold War: the complete depopulation of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean to make room for a military base.

The Chagossians — roughly 2,000 people who had lived on the islands for generations — were forcibly removed. Their dogs were gassed. Their homes were demolished. They were dumped in Mauritius and the Seychelles, where many lived in poverty.

Today, Diego Garcia hosts a massive US naval and air base used for bomber operations across the Middle East, CIA rendition flights, and surveillance. In 2019, the International Court of Justice ruled the UK's continued control of the Chagos Islands illegal. The UN General Assembly voted 116-6 demanding decolonization. The US and UK have ignored the ruling.

Environmental Destruction

US military bases are among the worst polluters on the planet. The Pentagon is the single largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels in the world and has contaminated countless communities:

• • PFAS contamination from firefighting foam at hundreds of bases worldwide — linked to cancer, thyroid disease, and developmental problems
• • Depleted uranium residue in Iraq, Kosovo, and testing ranges
• • Agent Orange stored and tested at bases in Okinawa, Guam, and Korea
• • Fuel spills and leaks — the Red Hill facility in Hawaii leaked jet fuel into the drinking water of 93,000 people in 2021
• • Unexploded ordnance — Vieques, Puerto Rico, used as a bombing range for 60 years; cancer rates 30% higher than mainland PR

Under Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs), the US typically avoids liability for environmental cleanup. When bases close, contaminated land is often returned to host nations without remediation.

Why So Many Bases?

The standard justification is "force projection" — the ability to respond quickly to threats anywhere in the world. But Vine's research reveals more prosaic reasons:

The "Lily Pad" Strategy

Since 2001, the Pentagon has shifted toward smaller, more secretive installations called "lily pads" — bare-bones facilities with minimal permanent personnel that can be quickly activated for operations. Currently there are at least 144 such sites worldwide.

The advantage for the Pentagon is clear: lily pads are cheaper, lower-profile, and attract less host-nation opposition. The disadvantage for democracy is equally clear: they're nearly invisible to public scrutiny and congressional oversight. Many aren't even reported in the Pentagon's official base structure report.

Africa is the frontier of this strategy. US Africa Command (AFRICOM), established in 2007, has quietly built a network of at least 29 known sites across the continent — used for drone operations, special forces raids, intelligence collection, and "training missions" that frequently cross into combat.

Do Bases Make Us Safer?

The evidence is mixed at best. Research by political scientist Alexander Cooley and others suggests that overseas bases often:

• • Generate anti-American sentiment that feeds recruitment for terrorist organizations
• • Entangle the US in local conflicts and political disputes
• • Prop up authoritarian regimes (Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti) in exchange for basing rights
• • Provoke adversaries — US bases near Russia and China are cited by both as justification for military buildups
• • Create moral hazard — the ability to strike anywhere makes war too easy, removing the friction that might prevent unnecessary conflicts

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