Senator sees possible Katrina impact on troop and base closure decisions

If a consensus emerges that more U.S. troops are needed to handle both domestic emergencies and overseas deployments, it might cause the government to rethink the current list of base-closure recommendations now on the president's desk, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., said this week.

The independent base-closing commission made its final decisions just days before Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. But, as Warner acknowledged, the government now might need to review those recommendations in light of the hurricane and the deployment of 70,000 troops to the area.

"Situations like this sometimes dictate you re-examine the end strength of the Guard and Reserve to determine whether or not they are adequate," Warner said Tuesday. "There is a relationship [there] on what our base structure is in this country."

Warner cautioned that he was not predicting what President Bush or Congress might do, nor was he providing any immediate recommendations for a particular path forward.

"Given the Katrina situation, it might require some rethinking," Warner said of the base-closing commission's recommendations.

He added later that he is "working with the department now because clearly we've got to look at the issues of end-strength of the regular forces and end-strength of the Guard, and that all involves all the way down to houses and base structure."

Warner declined to identify specific bases that might need to remain open to support any influx of troops.

His comments came as a handful of lawmakers from Gulf Coast states argued that two naval stations slated for closure in Texas and Mississippi should remain open to deal with emerging homeland security and defense missions in the region.

Personnel at Pascagoula and Ingleside Naval Stations were among the first responders to the hurricane, Mississippi Republican Sen. Trent Lott and others wrote in a letter sent this week to Bush. Closing the installations would delay military reaction to future crises in the area, they wrote.

Meanwhile, the Senate Armed Services Committee is awaiting action to continue on their $441.6 billion defense authorization bill, which was pulled from the floor in late July.

Warner said he spoke briefly with Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., Tuesday and felt confident Senate leadership will place the bill on the legislative calendar. "Don't worry. As sure as I'm standing right here we're going to have that bill out," Warner said.

But Warner also has discussed with Frist whether they should hold off on debating defense authorization until the White House acts on the base-closure report.

Bush must decide by Sept. 23 whether to send the report back to the commission with suggestions for further review.

"It might be wise to wait out the president's decisions on the 23rd in the hopes that there would be some finality to the [base-closure] process," Warner said.

Senate Armed Services member John Thune, R-S.D., has introduced an amendment to the authorization bill to stall base-closures for several years -- until most troops return from Iraq and the Pentagon completes several in-depth reviews.

Thune has been one of the leading base-closure opponents since the Pentagon recommended shuttering his state's Ellsworth Air Force Base.

The commission last month opted to overturn the recommendation, but Thune has said the reasoning behind his amendment still stands.

"He's getting encouragement from other members and there have been a few members who approached him that were not originally" among the co-sponsors, a Thune spokesman said.

Thune has not decided whether to move forward with the amendment.

Other top committee members criticized leadership for not yet scheduling debate on the bill and blamed the delay on the administration's aversion to an amendment offered by Airland Subcommittee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., that would standardize detainee interrogation policies.

"We've got really important provisions for our troops [who] are already overstretched," said Armed Services ranking member Carl Levin, D-Mich. "The leaders of the Senate have decided to leave it in limbo because the White House doesn't want to deal with the McCain amendment."

If the Senate does not consider the authorization bill, McCain and Levin said they plan to introduce the detainee amendment during debate on Defense appropriations.

Warner continues to support the McCain amendment and said he does not have "solid facts" that it was the reason the bill was pulled from the floor in July.

Rather, he said it was not moving fast enough and leadership wanted to push other bills before the August recess.