{
  "id": "94-515",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "94-515",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 316363,
      "date": "1994-06-20",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T21:04:35.641941",
      "title": "Defense Burdensharing: Is Japan's Host Nation Support a Model for Other Allies?",
      "summary": "This document also available in  PDF Image .\n  Under an agreement announced in January 1991, the Government of Japan committed itself to\nincrease substantially the amount of support that it provides for U.S. military forces based there. \nAmong other things, Japan agreed by 1995 to absorb 100 percent of the cost of Japanese nationals\nemployed at U.S. military facilities and to pay for all utilities supplied to U.S. bases, to increase the\namount of military and family housing construction that it is providing to support U.S. forces, to\ncontinue to provide facilities at no charge to the United States, and to waive taxes and fees that might\notherwise apply to U.S. activities.\n  By FY1995, under the new agreement, the value of Japan's annual host nation support (HNS)\nfor U.S. forces will rise to $4.1\u00a0billion, according to U.S. estimates, while U.S. military\noperating\ncosts, excluding military pay and related personnel expenses, will amount to $1.3 billion. By these\nmeasures, Japan will provide 76 percent of the funding required to base roughly 45,000 U.S. military\ntroops there. Using similar calculations, by 1995 Korea will contribute 70 percent of U.S. basing\ncosts, but no other U.S. ally will provide more than 25 percent. In recent years, many Members in\nboth Houses of Congress have repeatedly sought to induce other U.S. allies to absorb as large a share\nas Japan of U.S. overseas basing costs. Some estimates suggest that this approach could save the\nUnited States more than $3\u00a0billion a year by the end of the decade.\n  Such calculations follow logically from the manner in which the Defense Department has\npresented data on host nation support contributions and on U.S. overseas basing costs to Congress. \nThe data, however, suffer from a number of shortcomings. One problem is that much host nation\nsupport is in the form of land and facilities provided free of charge to U.S. forces. All major allies\nthat host U.S. troops now provide land and facilities without charge. Disparities in the estimated\nvalue of these contributions, therefore, merely reflect differences in local costs rather than variations\nin allied levels of effort. These and many other elements of host nation support do not directly offset\nU.S. military operating costs abroad. \n  Because of these conceptual problems, common estimates of potential savings from increased\nhost nation support on the Japanese model appear to be substantially overstated. Clearly, some\nsavings might be achieved. Estimates of foreign national labor compensation do appear comparable\namong the allies. If all allies were to match the share of foreign national labor costs that Japan\nabsorbs, then savings to the United States could approach $1 billion a year. Further savings might\nbe possible if other allies were to absorb some additional direct military operating costs. A reliable\nestimate of such savings, however, would require a detailed data on operating expenses in each host\nnation than DOD has provided.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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}