Base commission backs Walter Reed closure, shift of Virginia jobs

The Base Realignment and Closure Commission voted Thursday to back the Pentagon's plan to close Walter Reed Army Medical Center as part of an overall proposal to realign military medical services in and around Washington, D.C.

Under the plan approved by the commission, the medical services provided at Walter Reed, which is in the District of Columbia, will be relocated to a new and larger complex in Bethesda, Md., and a new hospital at Fort Belvoir, Va. About 285 military service members and 1,000 civilian employees would be affected.

The Defense Department estimates that mothballing the 96-year-old medical facility will save $301 million over 20 years, but will cost $989 million. That includes expenses associated with moving Walter Reed and constructing a new facility.

The new facility will be named Walter Reed National Medical Center in honor of the existing hospital. It is expected to have 340 beds, up from 185 at the Washington facility. Commissioners said that repairing Walter Reed would cost more than building a new facility.

"We've been maintaining two old hospitals, and now we have the opportunity to build one world-class hospital," said the panel's chairman, Anthony J. Principi. "Whatever the costs, we need to expend that cost to provide that world-class care."

The independent panel--established to review the Defense Department's plan for closing and realigning military facilities around the country--also discussed and voted on several other plans for altering dozens of Defense medical facilities nationwide. It also approved most of the Pentagon's proposals for streamlining support services.

The panel backed a Pentagon plan to shift thousands of employees out of leased office space in Northern Virginia onto military bases. Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., immediately decried the action. "By moving activities away from Northern Virginia, the Defense Department will lose countless highly skilled, difficult-to-replace employees who will choose to seek other employment rather than uproot their families and move out of the area," he said. "It will take years, if not decades, to recover from these ill-conceived proposals."

The commission was scheduled to review the Pentagon's recommendations for closing and realigning Air Force facilities late Thursday evening or Friday morning. The panel's deliberations are now scheduled to finish Friday, a day earlier than planned.

The commission's final report is due to President Bush by Sept. 8. If he approves it, Congress must either reject or approve the plan in 45 legislative days.

On Wednesday, the panel spared two key New England naval bases slated for closure, among other actions.

On Thursday, the panel reversed the Pentagon's proposal to move the Aviation Logistics School at Fort Eustis, Va., to the Aviation Center and School at Fort Rucker in southeast Alabama. The panel's staff said that there were errors in the Pentagon's cost savings analysis, reducing the move's financial benefit.

The nine-member panel endorsed the Pentagon's plan to close the Brooks City-Base in Texas. Several of the organizations located there will be moved to Ohio's Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The plan is expected to save $971 million over 20 years at the expense of $324 million. About 470 military and 380 civilian jobs will be affected.