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Congressional delegation wants Army's proposed 'Futures Command' in Atlanta

The group of U.S. senators and representatives sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of the Army explaining why Georgia and Atlanta are a strong fit for the expansion.
Credit: Niyazz
U.S. Army and flag patch on solder's uniform

ATLANTA -- A congressional delegation is hoping to woo a new U.S. Army headquarters to metro Atlanta a member said in a media release on Thursday.

The push comes as the Pentagon makes plans to establish a new Futures Command of the U.S. Army – the goal of which is to modernize and restructure the military branch.

According to a release from the office of Congressman Drew Ferguson, a member of the delegation, the army intends to focus on six modernization efforts to “improve its performance to better combat modern-day threats.”

According to Ferguson’s office, the new headquarters would also focus on how the Army “researches, develops and procures new equipment.”

With a requirement that the new command must have access to academia and business expertise, the delegation drafted a letter to U.S. Secretary of Army Mark Esper saying Georgia – and Atlanta – should be a strong contender.

“The Georgia delegation applauds your efforts in modernizing the U.S. Army and improving the acquisition process to give our soldiers the needed equipment to fight, and overwhelmingly win, in combat,” the letter states.

The letter then goes on to highlight some of the state’s academic and financial resources ranging from thousands of tech companies and numerous fortune 500 companies to one of the largest IT employment clusters in the country and the Centers for Disease Control just up the road.

The letter also touts the proximity to Hartsfield-Jackson and the state’s existing military presence with bases throughout.

“Members of Congress from Georgia are dedicated to supporting our servicemen and women, and in doing so, we urge you to fully consider the numerous resources available to Futures Command in Atlanta,” the letter states.

The letter includes the printed signatures of both of Georgia’s U.S. senators, Johnny Isakson and David Perdue as well as a bipartisan list of House representatives including Buddy Carter (R-Ga), Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), John Lewis (D-Ga.), Karen Handel (R-Ga.), Rob Woodall (R-Ga.), Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Jody Hice (R-Ga.), Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), Rick Allen (R-Ga.), David Scott (D-Ga.) and Tom Graves (R-Ga.).

“We thank you and your team for your continued support of Georgia, and for trusting us to return in kind,” the letter concludes. “It is our strongest conviction that Atlanta, and the entire state of Georgia, can continue a proud military history with Futures Command.”

The move to bring Futures Command to Atlanta is the latest but far from the only one to bring a major operation to Georgia.

Facebook recently announced plans to build a datacenter in Walton County, Georgia. And Atlanta continues to await Amazon’s decision on its coveted HQ2 – the code name for the massive companies second headquarters.

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