A display commemorating Operation Iraqi Freedom is seen June 6, 2025, at the 2nd Cavalry Regiment Museum in Vilseck, Germany, which features exhibits from the regiment’s formation in 1836 to present. A June 2025 proposal to shutter 29 Army museums over the next three years included the one in Vilseck. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — The Army will pause a plan to close more than 20 museums to comply with congressional action.
“No museums will close for now until a new plan is reviewed and approved by the Army and presented to Congress. We have no estimation on when that will all take place,” U.S. Army Center of Military History spokesman F. Lee Reynolds said in a statement Thursday.
The National Defense Authorization Act passed in December directs Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to establish an Army museum system, conduct a thorough assessment and notify Congress before any proposed closures.
“[The Center of Military History] will conduct a detailed review of mission requirements, resources, and current museum operations and develop recommendations for the size, scope and locations of the proposed museum system for presentation to senior Army leaders later this year,” the service said in a statement.
Task & Purpose was the first to report the change.
The NDAA also requires the Air Force and Navy to maintain formal museum systems.
The U.S. Army Center of Military History announced plans in June to close or consolidate 29 of its active-duty museums to direct more resources toward “readiness and lethality.”
The cost-cutting measures were proposed as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth expressed the Pentagon’s intent to take steps toward making the military a more lethal fighting force.
The criteria used to determine which museums would get the ax were public access, number of visitors, maintenance requirements and relevance, Reynolds said last year. Closures were slated to start this summer and continue through September 2027. It would then take two years to properly remove and store artifacts, clean out buildings and give them back to their installations.
“The Army Museum Enterprise remains a world-class collection of stories and artifacts that trains and acculturates soldiers and connects the Army to American society,” Charles Bowery Jr., Executive Director of the Center of Military History, said in a statement.
