In-Depth Analysis

Empire of Bases

750 Bases. 80 Countries. No Empire in History Compares.

The United States maintains approximately 750 military bases and installations in 80 countries, with 173,000 troops permanently stationed overseas. It is the largest global military footprint in human history — more than twice the combined reach of the Roman Empire, the British Empire, and the Soviet Union at their respective peaks. The annual cost exceeds $55B — more than the entire budget of the Department of Education. And no one voted for it.

750

Overseas Bases

Across every inhabited continent

Countries

~40% of all nations on Earth

173,000

Troops Overseas

Permanently stationed abroad

$55B

Annual Cost

More than Dept. of Education

Foreign Military Presence: Empires Compared

United States (2025)

750 bases

Active military installations across every inhabited continent

Roman Empire (peak, ~117 AD)

40 bases

~40 provinces with permanent legions. Lasted 500 years.

British Empire (peak, ~1920)

36 bases

Largest empire in history — 25% of Earth's land surface

Soviet Union (peak, ~1980)

20 bases

Primarily Warsaw Pact nations and allied states

France (2025)

10 bases

Mostly former colonies in Africa and overseas territories

United Kingdom (2025)

7 bases

Remnants of empire — Cyprus, Gibraltar, Diego Garcia, Falklands

China (2025)

3 bases

Djibouti (2017), Cambodia (suspected), and Tajikistan (suspected)

Russia (2025)

9 bases

Syria, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and a few others

The US has more overseas military bases than the rest of the world combined — by a factor of 10.

The Base Network by Region

Europe

~300 bases~80,000 troops

Key installations: Germany (119 bases, 34,000 troops), Italy (44 bases), UK (25 bases), Spain, Turkey, Greece, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Romania

WWII and Cold War legacy — 80 years after the wars that put them there.

East Asia & Pacific

~250 bases~80,000 troops

Key installations: Japan (120 bases, 54,000 troops — 70% on Okinawa), South Korea (73 bases, 28,500 troops), Guam, Australia, Philippines, Singapore, Diego Garcia

WWII and Korean War legacy. China containment strategy.

Middle East & Central Asia

~60 bases~35,000 troops

Key installations: Bahrain (US 5th Fleet HQ), Kuwait, Qatar (Al Udeid — CENTCOM forward HQ), UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Turkey (Incirlik — 50 nuclear weapons)

War on Terror expansion. Oil. Iran containment.

Africa

~30 bases~7,000 troops

Key installations: Djibouti (Camp Lemonnier — 4,000+ personnel), Niger, Kenya, Somalia, Cameroon, Chad, Burkina Faso

Post-9/11 expansion. AFRICOM. Special operations. Drone strikes.

Latin America & Caribbean

~20 bases~5,000 troops

Key installations: Guantánamo Bay (Cuba), Honduras (Soto Cano), Colombia, Curaçao, Aruba

Drug war. Regional influence. SOUTHCOM.

Okinawa: 80 Years of Occupation

70%

Of Japan's US bases on one island

US military facilities

72%

Of Okinawans oppose new base construction (2019 referendum)

Okinawa is the most extreme example of what the US base network does to a community. The island — just 0.6% of Japan's total land area — hosts 70% of all US military facilities in Japan. Roughly 18% of the island's land is occupied by the US military. The bases have been there since 1945 — 80 years after World War II ended.

The human toll on Okinawans has been enormous:

• Sexual assaults: Hundreds of documented cases of sexual assault by US military personnel against Okinawans, including the horrific 1995 kidnapping and rape of a 12-year-old girl by three US service members — which triggered the largest anti-base protests in Okinawa's history (85,000 people).
• Aircraft crashes: A 2004 Marine helicopter crashed into Okinawa International University. A 2016 Osprey crashed off the coast. Dozens of other incidents. Okinawans live under the constant threat of military aircraft falling from the sky.
• Noise pollution: Fighter jets taking off at all hours. Artillery exercises. Helicopter training. Schools near bases must pause classes when aircraft pass overhead. The noise has been documented to cause hearing damage, sleep disruption, and cardiovascular stress.
• Environmental contamination: PFAS (“forever chemicals”) from firefighting foam detected in rivers and drinking water near bases. Fuel spills. Chemical dumping. Okinawans are drinking contaminated water because of bases they never asked for.
• Land seizure: Much of the base land was seized from Okinawan farmers during and after WWII. Families lost ancestral land that had been farmed for generations. They've been fighting to get it back for 80 years.

In a 2019 referendum, 72% of Okinawans voted against new US base construction at Henoko. Both the Japanese and US governments proceeded anyway. The will of the Okinawan people is irrelevant to the base-building machine. As one Okinawan protester told the BBC: “We are not a colony. We are human beings. But they treat us like the land beneath their bases — something to be used.”

Diego Garcia: Expelling an Entire Population to Build a Base

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the United Kingdom and the United States conspired to forcibly remove the entire indigenous population of the Chagos Archipelago — approximately 2,000 Chagossians who had lived on the islands for generations — to make way for a US military base on Diego Garcia.

The Chagossians were loaded onto cargo ships. Their pet dogs were rounded up and gassed with exhaust fumes in front of their owners — a deliberate act of cruelty meant to show there was no going back. The people were dumped in Mauritius and the Seychelles, where they lived in poverty. Many died of what they called “sagren” — sadness, homesickness, a broken heart.

The base on Diego Garcia became one of the most strategically important US installations in the world: a staging ground for operations in the Middle East, East Africa, and South Asia. B-52 and B-2 bombers launched strikes on Iraq and Afghanistan from Diego Garcia. It may have been used as a CIA “black site” for extraordinary rendition — the euphemism for kidnapping suspects and transporting them to countries where they could be tortured.

The Chagossians have been fighting for the right to return for over 50 years. In 2019, the International Court of Justice ruled that the UK's separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius was illegal. In 2024, the UK agreed in principle to transfer sovereignty to Mauritius — but the US base will remain, and the Chagossians' right to return to Diego Garcia specifically remains uncertain.

“They forced us out of our home, killed our dogs, and put us on a ship like cargo. We had nothing. We lost everything. And for what? So they could build a runway.”— Liseby Elysé, Chagossian exile

Ramstein: The Drone Relay Station

Ramstein Air Base in Germany — the largest US military community outside the United States — plays a critical role that few Germans or Americans understand: it is the relay station for US drone strikes across the Middle East and Africa.

Because the signal from drone operators in Nevada cannot reach drones in Yemen or Somalia directly (the curvature of the Earth and satellite limitations), the signal is bounced through a relay station at Ramstein. Without Ramstein, the US drone program in Africa and the Middle East could not function as it currently operates.

This means that Germany — which has not authorized any of these drone strikes and which officially opposes targeted killings — is an essential node in the US assassination program. German courts have been asked to rule on whether Germany's participation (through hosting the relay infrastructure) violates German and international law. Annual protests at Ramstein draw thousands.

Ramstein is also home to Burger King, Taco Bell, Popeyes, a movie theater, a bowling alley, and an American-style shopping mall. It is a complete American city transplanted 5,000 miles from home — from which missiles are launched that kill people on another continent. The cognitive dissonance is the architecture of empire.

Environmental Contamination: Poisoning the Land

US military bases are among the most polluted sites in the world. The contamination spans decades and continents:

PFAS (“Forever Chemicals”)

Firefighting foam (AFFF) used on military bases for decades contains PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances that never break down in the environment. PFAS contamination has been detected in groundwater near bases in Japan, Germany, South Korea, Australia, Belgium, and the US itself. These chemicals are linked to cancer, thyroid disease, immune disorders, and reproductive problems. At hundreds of bases worldwide, the water is contaminated — and the people living nearby are drinking it.

Red Hill, Hawaii: 93,000 People Poisoned

The Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii — underground tanks built during WWII holding 180 million gallons of jet fuel — leaked into the drinking water supply serving 93,000 people, mostly military families. Residents reported fuel-smelling water coming from their taps. Children fell ill. The Navy initially denied the contamination, then admitted it, then dragged its feet on cleanup. The facility was finally ordered shut down in 2022, but full remediation will take decades. The people affected are still dealing with health consequences.

Vieques, Puerto Rico: 60 Years as a Bombing Range

The US Navy used the island of Vieques as a live-fire bombing range for 60 years(1941–2003). Residents lived between two bombing zones. Cancer rates on Vieques are 27% higher than the Puerto Rican mainland. Rates of heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory illness are dramatically elevated. The Navy used depleted uranium, napalm, Agent Orange, and other toxic munitions. Cleanup has been glacial. The people of Vieques are still dying from contamination that ended two decades ago.

Carbon Footprint

The Pentagon's overseas base network produces more CO₂ emissions than 140 individual countries. If the US military were a country, it would be the 47th largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. The DOD is the single largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels on Earth.

The Cost: $55B/Year (At Least)

The official cost of maintaining overseas bases is approximately $55Bper year. But this is almost certainly a dramatic undercount. David Vine, author of Base Nation, estimates the true cost — including personnel, construction, maintenance, equipment, and support services — could be $100-150 billion per year.

What $55B/yr Could Fund Instead

• Free public college for every American ($80B/yr)
• End veteran homelessness ($20B/yr)
• Double the EPA budget ($12B → $24B)
• Triple NASA's budget ($25B → $75B)
• Fund the National Science Foundation for 5+ years

Why Bases Never Close

• Local economies in host countries depend on base spending
• US contractors profit from construction and services
• Congress members protect bases in allied countries for diplomatic leverage
• Military brass wants forward deployment for career advancement
• The “threat” that justified the base is always replaced by a new one

As Vine writes: “Once a base is built, it develops its own political constituency — both in the host country and in Congress. The base creates jobs, contracts, and economic activity. Closing it means eliminating all of that. So bases almost never close, regardless of whether the threat that justified them still exists.”

How Bases Create Permanent War

The base network isn't just a consequence of American military policy — it's a cause. Bases don't just project power; they generate demand for their own existence:

1. Bases Generate Resentment → New Threats

Foreign military bases on your soil breed resentment. Osama bin Laden cited US bases in Saudi Arabia as his primary grievance. The presence of American troops — with their cultural differences, their accidents, their occasional crimes — creates friction that local politicians and extremists exploit. The bases that are supposed to contain threats actually generate them.

2. New Threats → More Bases

When new threats emerge (often from blowback), the response is more bases, more deployments, more infrastructure. The War on Terror expanded the base network from ~700 to 750+ installations. Each new base creates new frictions, new resentments, new threats — justifying yet more bases.

3. Bases Create Political Constituencies → Permanent Funding

Every base has contractors, suppliers, workers, and economic dependencies — both in the host country and in the US. Defense contractors build the bases, supply the equipment, run the dining facilities, and maintain the infrastructure. Closing a base means eliminating all of that economic activity. The result: bases almost never close.

4. The Cycle Is Self-Sustaining

Bases generate resentment → resentment creates threats → threats justify more bases → more bases generate more resentment. The cycle has been running since 1945. It has never been broken because too many people — contractors, military brass, politicians, local economies — profit from its continuation.

Local Opposition: The People Who Live Under the Bases

Okinawa, Japan

72% voted against new base construction (2019). Decades of protests. Largest demonstrations in Okinawa's history. Both governments proceeded anyway.

Jeju Island, South Korea

Villagers fought for years against a naval base that destroyed centuries-old volcanic rock formations and UNESCO-quality coastline. They were arrested. The base was built.

Vicenza, Italy

Tens of thousands marched against the expansion of the US Army's base (Camp Ederle/Del Din). 90,000 residents signed a petition. The expansion proceeded.

Ramstein, Germany

Annual protests target the base's role as a relay station for US drone strikes in Africa and the Middle East. German peace organizations call it complicity in extrajudicial killing.

Ecuador

President Rafael Correa refused to renew the US base lease at Manta in 2009, saying: “We'll renew your base when you let us put an Ecuadorian base in Miami.” The base closed.

Philippines

Closed US bases at Clark and Subic Bay in 1992 after massive protests and a Philippine Senate vote. The US later negotiated re-access through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.

💡 Did You Know?

• The US has more overseas military bases than embassies and consulates combined.
• Incirlik Air Base, Turkey stores approximately 50 US nuclear weapons — in a NATO ally whose president has threatened to “go it alone” and has purchased Russian air defense systems.
• The Pentagon's overseas base network produces more CO₂ than 140 individual countries.
• Diego Garcia was created by forcibly removing the entire indigenous population. They've never been allowed to return.
• Ramstein Air Base in Germany has its own Burger King, Taco Bell, and Popeyes — and is the relay station for drone assassinations.
• Japan hosts 120 US military facilities — 80 years after World War II ended. Germany hosts 119.
• The cost of overseas bases ($55B/yr) is more than the combined budgets of the EPA, NASA, and the National Science Foundation.
• If the US military were a country, it would be the 47th largest carbon emitter in the world.

“We'll renew your military base on our soil when you let us put an Ecuadorian military base in Miami.”

— Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador, 2008 (Manta base closed 2009)

“Americans might consider how they would react if China, Russia, or another country established even a single military base on American soil. A single base. Let alone 750.”

— David Vine, Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World

The Bottom Line

The United States maintains the most extensive military base network in human history — 750 installations in 80 countries, more than every other country on Earth combined. Many of these bases exist not because of current threats but because of wars that ended decades ago. They persist because they create their own political constituencies, their own economic dependencies, and their own self-justifying cycles of threat and response.

The people who live near these bases — in Okinawa, Diego Garcia, Vieques, Ramstein, and dozens of other communities — have paid the price in contaminated water, noise pollution, sexual assaults, land seizures, and the daily reality of living under a foreign military occupation that their governments accepted but they never chose.

The question isn't whether America needs a strong military. The question is whether it needs military bases in 80 countries, 80 years after the wars that put them there ended — and whether the people who live under those bases have any say in the matter. So far, the answer has been no.