WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Department has removed 15 countries from the list of those that qualify military service members for imminent danger pay.
The move announced Friday will save the military $108 million a year, Stars and Stripes reported. The changes will take effect June 1.
East Timor, Haiti, Liberia, Oman, Rwanda, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan were removed from the list. Another six countries and their air space were also decertified: Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Montenegro.
The Defense Department recertified 26 countries: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Burundi, Chad, Colombia, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Syria, Turkey, Uganda and Yemen, plus the city of Athens in Greece, the Mediterranean Sea and the Somalia Basin.
The United States does not necessarily have military personnel stationed in areas certified for imminent danger pay.
Nate Christensen, a spokesman for the department, said the military spent $500 million in imminent danger pay in 2012.
