Base closure panel makes key changes to Pentagon’s plan

The independent panel charged with reviewing the Defense Department's plan to restructure military bases around the country voted Wednesday to reverse several high-profile Pentagon recommendations, including the closure of a Texas Army depot, a Maine shipyard and a Connecticut submarine base.

The nine-member Base Realignment and Closure Commission appraised dozens of Army and Navy installations Wednesday, adding some bases to the closure list, modifying realignment plans and removing certain bases entirely. The commission is scheduled to continue deliberating on installations through Saturday if necessary.

The panel reversed two of the Pentagon's most significant closure recommendations, involving the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, and Connecticut's New London Submarine Base, as well as plans to close three other bases in Louisiana, Texas and California.

In preparation for the hearings that began Wednesday, the commission made 182 installation visits and conducted 35 hearings around the country.

Rejection of a Pentagon recommendation means that a majority of the panelists believed that the military had strayed from the principles used to determine each base's value to the military.

The Pentagon's plan--which originally included 15 base closures and 36 realignments--was estimated to generate $48.8 billion in savings over the next 20 years, eliminating 27,000 military personnel salaries with a value of $24.4 billion.

The panel's final list of proposed closures and realignments must be sent to President Bush by Sept. 8. If Bush backs the recommendations, Congress has 45 legislative days to either accept or reject the list in its entirety.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in press briefing Tuesday that he appreciates the work of the commissioners and believed that they would endorse "the overwhelming majority" of the closures and realignments on the list.

Commissioners rejected the Pentagon's plan to close the New London base because of concerns about operational readiness and the base's strategic value. The vote was 7-1 with one abstention. The base's closure would have affected more than 8,000 jobs.

"The New London sub base is more than parking places for nuclear powered submarines," said commission Chairman Anthony J. Principi. "If we close new London now, we will never get it back … I think it would be a tragic loss to the nation if New London were closed."

The commission overruled the plan to shutter the Portsmouth shipyard because panel members believed projections of savings from closing the base were too high. Closing Portsmouth would have involved relocating about 200 military personnel and affected 4,000 civilian jobs, costing $448 million but saving $1.26 billion over 20 years, according to Pentagon estimates.

Principi said that he believes Portsmouth to be a "the pre-eminent shipyard in the nation" and "a model for labor-management relationships."

"Its ability to turn around subs quicker than any other shipyards should be noticed," Principi said. "The costs to shut down this shipyard are misunderstood. Once we lose this one … we will not get it back."

The commission reaffirmed its intention to recommend the closure of Brunswick Naval Air Station in Maine. The commission had added the base to the closure list in July. The Pentagon had recommended that it be realigned but kept open.

"The department changed its mind about closing the air base in Maine because they realized that they had no other air bases in New England, even though they had no use for it," said commission member and retired Adm. Harold W. Gehman. "Let's close the base and let the community use it."

Commission members also voted to keep open Virginia's Naval Air Station Oceana--for now. The facility was not on the military's original list, but the commission had agreed earlier to consider it for closure. In the end, the panel voted to allow the base to remain open only if state and local officials in Virginia enact legislation to prevent further encroachment of commercial development near the base by next March.

"The sense of the commission [is] that the future of Naval Aviation is not Naval Air Station Oceana," the panel said in a statement.

The panel voted to realign the Naval Support Activity base in New Orleans rather than close it, as the Pentagon had proposed, pending the approval of a state-funded "Federal City" project to house the operation. The Navy's operations in Kansas City also will move to the proposed complex.

"This is a Louisiana offer to build the buildings and save the government money," said commissioner member and retired Gen. James T. Hill. "This one jumped out at me as the biggest no-brainer out there."

The commission unanimously backed the Pentagon's plan to shut the Pascagoula Naval Station in Mississippi and move its operations to Florida, saving $666 million over the next 20 years at a cost of $17.9 million. More than 400 jobs will be relocated and 539 will be eliminated.

Commissioners reversed the closure of the Naval Support Activity Corona facility in California and the relocation of its Naval Surface Warfare Center Division to Naval Base Ventura County, citing the higher cost of living and the expense of moving the installation's employees.

Of the 56 recommendations involving Army facilities, only three received significant debate. Commissioners reversed Pentagon plan to close Red River Army Depot in Texas and relocate its services to several other bases. Despite the estimated $539 million in savings of the next 20 years, commissioners raised concerns about the interruption of Humvee repairs and the plan's $456.2 million cost.

"This is exactly the wrong time to be closing Red River Army Depot," said Hill.

The commission affirmed the military's plan to close Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, but required the military to ensure that shutting the base won't harm its programs. At the same time, commissioners voted to alter the realignment plan of Northern Virginia's Fort Belvoir.

Commission members unanimously approved Defense Department plans to close Georgia's Fort McPherson, Virginia's Fort Monroe and the U.S. Army Garrison-Michigan located at Selfridge Air National Guard Base.

Panel members rebuffed a passionate effort by two commissioners--former Reps. James H. Bilbray, R-Nev., and James V. Hansen, R-Utah--to block the Pentagon's plan to close Texas' Naval Station Ingleside and realign Naval Air Station Corpus Christi.

Bilbray argued that the installation's closures would leave the Gulf Coast without adequate protection from terrorists and would take away the community's military presence.