BRAC plan likely to prompt strong fight in Northeast

Lisa Troshinsky — Fri, 13 May 2005 00:00:00 -0400

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Friday sent to Capitol Hill his recommendations calling for 5 percent to 11 percent cuts in excess military infrastructure. He expects the recommendations to result in $5.5 billion in annual savings and slightly less than $50 billion over 20 years.

"Industry all along has said that base closures are good because it frees up money for procurement," said Pete Steffes, vice president of government policy for the National Defense Industrial Association. He acknowledged the upfront costs of shutting down bases, but said in the long term the savings would be realized. The reduction in bases will help provide long-term savings needed to fund the military's transformation efforts, Steffes said.

But another industry source said he does not see this BRAC round as a great step toward the Defense Department's transformation plan, which strives to make the services work together to create efficiencies. "For example, the Air Force has three bases that handle primary flight training and the Navy has two bases that do the same thing. One of the Navy bases in Florida can train more people so why not take one of the Air Force squadrons and train them at the Navy base?" he said.

"The largest fight will be in the Northeast region," said Barry Rhoads, who heads a defense lobbying group. "Groton [Conn.] will lose 8,460 personnel, Portsmouth [Maine] will lose 4,500, and Ft. Monmouth, N.J., will lose over 5,000 employees."

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said Friday that he would ask the commission to retain the Groton-New London base because of its military value. During the 2004 campaign, Hunter visited the New London area and said he had asked the Pentagon to keep the base off the closing list. His appearance was an effort to bolster Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., who was in a close re-election contest.

But Stephen Pietropaoli, executive director of the Navy League, a civilian advocacy group, said the submarine base in Connecticut is not needed. The Navy says the diminished size of the submarine force and the efficiency of on-line training are reasons it is not worried about losing Groton.

The Navy's submarine force has diminished from 100 attack submarines and 40 ballistic submarines at the height of the Cold War to its current 55 attack and 18 Trident ballistic missile submarines. The Navy can use virtual training on the waterfront or on board in lieu of using a "brick and mortar school house," Pietropaoli said.

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House subpanel defers base-closing amendments to committee

Lisa Troshinsky — Thu, 12 May 2005 00:00:00 -0400

What concerned members during the brief markup session was the issue of base realignment and closures.

"Obviously, BRAC as an issue is in order for consideration today, and we will take up the matter if one of us insists upon doing so," said Readiness Subcommittee Chairman Joel Hefley, R-Colo.

Hefley asked the panel to consider members who were not fortunate enough to be on the subcommittee and urged them to wait and present their BRAC amendments to the full committee.

"For the past few years, the subcommittee has supported a delay in this process [BRAC]," Hefley said. "We were unsuccessful, and I now like to use the expression, 'The train has left the station.'"

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to release his BRAC recommendations Friday, triggering the first round in 10 years. The previous four base closing rounds occurred between 1988 and 1995.

Readiness Subcommittee ranking member Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, disagreed with Rumsfeld's contention that the Defense Department has a 25 percent excess in military installations, and that instituting this BRAC round will save about $9 billion.

Recommending another round at this time "is opening up a big can of worms," said Ortiz, who is a member of the Overseas Base Closing Commission which wants to slow down the BRAC process. "We don't know if we have enough room [in the United States]," Ortiz said. "What is going to happen is troops are going to compete for air, training, and housing."

Because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, "most of our training and depot facilities don't have excess capacity. And in all my years in Congress, I haven't seen BRAC saving one penny," Ortiz said.

The subcommittee also plans to work out a compromise on an amendment offered by Rep. Susan Davis, D-Calif., to increase congressional oversight of Defense Department efforts to stop undocumented immigrants from entering military training areas near international borders. Davis withdrew the amendment in the face of opposition from subcommittee members, especially Hefley.

"I reluctantly oppose the amendment, but we will come up with a solution to satisfy everybody," Hefley said.

It also approved on voice vote a group of amendments proposed by Reps. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., and Gene Taylor, D-Miss., to authorize up to $1 million funding for certain Paralympic events -- Olympics for disabled athletes -- and authorizing a report on Defense Department food service vendors. The subcommittee draft transferred $1.5 billion from the fiscal 2006 budget request to pay for costs associated with the war on terrorism.

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Government Executive - Authors - Lisa Troshinsky

BRAC plan likely to prompt strong fight in Northeast

House subpanel defers base-closing amendments to committee