Several U.S. bases across the Middle East in Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait have come under Iranian attack over the last couple of months, raising questions about the long-term safety and security of those bases given the threat landscape in the region.

The War Department sought to protect troops before the war by removing many of them from bases they thought would be early targets for Iranian retaliation when the war was set to commence, while multiple expensive bases were vulnerable to Iranian drones and missiles.