Base-closing recommendations influenced by technology advances

Advances in information technology influenced the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission's recommendations to close 22 major military facilities and realign another 33, said Anthony Principi, the chairman of the panel, on Thursday.

The base-closing process is creating both opportunities and challenges for the IT community, Principi said in a speech at a conference hosted by the Information Technology Association of America, an Arlington, Va.-based trade group.

"Vast leaps in information technology in the areas of intelligence, surveillance, command and control as well as precise kinetic and nonkinetic weapons systems are dramatically reshaping warfare," Principi said. "That in turn served as the basis for resizing our military infrastructure."

Kinetic weapons, which are for the most part in the developmental stage, rely on high velocities to destroy the intended target.

The Air Force, for example, is built around industrial-age military concepts, and that structure must be updated for information-age warfare, Principi said.

"My challenge as chairman of the 2005 BRAC Commission was to ensure that I and the members of the commission understood the role IT played in the transformation strategy that served as the foundation of the Defense Department's base closure and realignment proposals," Principi said.

He acknowledged the BRAC process was agonizing for some, but said he believes it struck a good balance between "precipitous action and counterproductive procrastination." He said decisions were based on broad national concerns as opposed to "limited parochial issues."

Negative reaction to the Defense Department's proposals to relocate certain Air National Guard aircraft was the result of poor communication, according to Principi. The commission modified those proposals substantially.

"The Air Force complied with the statutory requirement to inform the head of the National Guard Bureau, but beyond that, [they] developed their proposal internally," Principi said. "The Army's BRAC process involved National Guard leaders at every stage and every level … and Army recommendations were accepted without change or controversy."

A final report from the commission concluded that the Bush administration's decision to shrink the nation's military infrastructure was premature and that the base-closing process should have waited until the Quadrennial Defense Review -- due in February -- is complete.