Pentagon installations chief steps down

The chief overseer of the base closure process at the Pentagon has stepped down from his position, but will stay in an advisory capacity until early next year to help the military services decide what bases should be closed or realigned.

Raymond Dubois, whose official title is deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment, is responsible for managing military facilities and environmental programs around the world. He announced Tuesday he was resigning for personal reasons.

DuBois also serves as the Pentagon's point man on the next round of the base realignment and closure process, which is slated for next year.

His top deputy, Phillip Grone, who has worked extensively on BRAC and military privatization issues, already has been tapped to replace him. Before coming to the Pentagon in 2001, Grone served as director of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Construction.

In addition to his deputy undersecretary position, DuBois was the Pentagon's director of administration and management. In that position, known informally as "mayor of the Pentagon," DuBois was responsible for the 2,300-person Washington Headquarters Services Agency, all Defense administrative services in the National Capital Region and the $4 billion Pentagon renovation program.

Grone will not take on the Pentagon administration job, and a successor to DuBois in that position has not yet been named.

DuBois first worked for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as deputy Army secretary in the mid-1970s. He spent the next 25 years in the private sector before returning to the Pentagon.

DuBois has been a staunch advocate for a BRAC process tightly controlled by the Pentagon that forces the services to consider creating joint bases. DuBois has said that the upcoming BRAC round may lead to more realignments than closures of military installations, and that there may be as much as 25 percent unneeded space at domestic bases.

DuBois' resignation is not expected to affect the BRAC process. By mid-May, the Pentagon will publish a list of bases it wants to close or realign, which will then be reviewed by a nonpartisan BRAC commission. After holding public hearings, the commission will make final recommendations to the president and Congress in the fall, which must accept or reject them in their entirety.

Dubois also will continue to advise Rumsfeld on implementing the new National Security Personnel System before leaving. He withdrew his nomination that had been pending before the Senate to become the deputy undersecretary of Defense for logistics and material readiness.