Two principles that have guided the acquisition and maintenance of large numbers of overseas bases since World War II still appear to be at work today. They are “redundancy”—the more bases, the safer the nation—and “strategic denial”—preventing supposed enemies from using a territory by denying them access—both of which hold that even if the military has little interest in using a base or a territory, it should acquire as many as possible for every possible contingency and almost never cede its acquisitions.

David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Milit…, loc. 1715