Defense budget seeks billions for base closures

The Defense Department's proposed $379.9 billion fiscal 2004 budget suggests the Pentagon will close or realign as many as 25 percent of all bases during the next round of base closures in 2005.

The proposed budget lays out a six-year spending plan that calls for spending $2.97 billion on base closures in fiscal 2006, $5.26 billion in fiscal 2007, and $2.25 billion in fiscal 2008. Defense budget officials says they arrived at those figures by doubling the combined cost of the last two round of base closings in 1993 and 1995, when about 12 percent of all bases were closed.

Lawmakers approved holding another round of base closures in 2001, but the 2004 budget proposal marks the first time money has been set aside to pay for it.

Raymond Dubois, deputy undersecretary of Defense for installations and environment, said in December that Defense could close or realign as many bases in 2005 as in the previous four rounds combined. In those rounds, 97 bases were closed, 55 major bases were realigned and 235 minor installations were either shut down or relocated. It takes about six years to close or realign bases. The recommendations to do so come from an independent commission appointed by Congress.

Defense budget officials says the hefty price tag for closing bases, which could ultimately reach $20 billion, is justified by a projected annual savings of $6.5 billion. Previous base closure have led to about $6 billion in annual savings, although the proposed 2004 budget includes $459 million for environmental cleanup and maintenance at bases closed over the last decade.

Overall, the proposed budget includes a $15.4 billion increase in defense spending over fiscal 2003. Specifically, the Air Force would see the biggest increase of any of the services with its budget rising $5.7 billion to $113.7 billion, the combined budget of the Navy and Marine Corps would rise $3.5 billion to $114.7 billion, the Army would receive a $3 billion hike to $93.7 billion, and other Defense agencies would receive $3 billion in increases for a total $57.9 billion.

The Defense Department would also continue to trim its civilian workforce, from 680,000 workers in fiscal 2003 to a proposed 673,000 employees in fiscal 2004. Most of those cuts will result from headquarters reductions and retirements, Defense budget officials said. While the cuts continue the downsizing of the civilian workforce that began nearly 15 years ago, they are occurring at a much slower rate than during the 1990s when tens of thousands of civilians were sent packing annually. By fiscal 2009, about 666,000 civilians are slated to be on Defense's payroll.

Additionally, the budget proposes 10,000 new Defense jobs be opened to federal job competitions, under rules outlined in Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76. Those rules require a competition between federal workers and a contractor before any work is outsourced with the jobs going to the lowest bidder.

Procurement dollars used for developing and buying new weapon systems and replacing old ones would increase $2.7 billion from $70 billion to $72.7 billion, including $7.7 billion for national missile defense; $1.2 billion to develop the Navy's next-generation of ships and $12.2 billion to buy seven new ships; $1.7 billion for the Army's Future Combat System and $456 million to field a replacement for the Crusader field artillery system that was cancelled last year; and $1.4 billion to buy and develop a variety of unmanned aerial aircraft.

The Defense Department's Special Operations Command emerges as a big winner in the budget with an increase of nearly 50 percent over last year's spending to $4.5 billion. Defense budget officials said the increase is a reflection of the growing role special operators have played in the war on terrorism and expanding roles they will likely have in future operations. The increase will cover the cost of new equipment as well as the construction of more than $80 million in new facilities for special operators.

Military construction accounts are proposed at level funding, $9 billion in fiscal 2004, although Congress traditionally tacks on billions of dollars for construction projects. Defense budget officials said $9 billion is enough money to ensure that Defense will be on track by fiscal 2008 to achieve its goal of repairing and replacing military buildings every 67 years.