[CPEO-IRF] More BRAC Decisions summarized

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Commission Makes More BRAC Decisions

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
August 26, 2005

WASHINGTON – The Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission voted 
today to keep open Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., rejecting a Pentagon 
proposal to close the base and consolidate the Air Force's B-1B Lancer 
long-ranger bomber aircraft fleet at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.

The nine-member BRAC panel also voted to keep Cannon Air Force Base, 
N.M., open until at least 2009, despite agreeing to relocate its air 
wing and attached aircraft. The commissioners urged DoD's to try to 
identify new missions for the base as its air wing and attached aircraft 
are removed.

The decisions were among the panel's most significant today, as it began 
its third day of final deliberations on DoD's proposal to reshape 
military infrastructure and eliminate excess capacity by closing 33 
major bases and realigning 29 others.

The panel also voted to realign Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, by 
moving its undergraduate navigator training to Naval Air Station 
Pensacola, Fla.

Discussions this afternoon were expected to focus on DoD's proposal to 
shut down Pope Air Force Base, N.C., turning it into an Army airfield to 
support Fort Bragg, N.C., and sweeping recommendations to revamp the Air 
National Guard and consolidate operations.

The commissioners voted Aug. 25 to consolidate 26 Defense Finance and 
Accounting Service offices into five: in Cleveland; in Limestone, Maine, 
at the former Loring Air Force Base; in Rome, N.Y., at the former 
Griffiss Air Force Base; at the Defense Supply Center Columbus, Ohio; in 
the Bean Federal Center in Indianapolis, at the former Fort Benjamin 
Harrison; and in Alexandria, Va.

Another Aug. 25 vote would consolidate medical operations in San 
Antonio, Texas, closing Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air 
Force Base and creating the new San Antonio Regional Medical Center at 
Fort Sam Houston. As part of that decision, the panel voted to move the 
dental training school at Sheppard Air Force Base, Kansas, to Fort Sam 
Houston.

The commission also voted to consolidate operations at three New Jersey 
posts: Fort Dix, McGuire Air Force Base, and Naval Air Engineering 
Station Lakehurst. The recommendation, if approved, will create a single 
joint base under a central commander at McGuire.

The panel also voted to close Onizuka Air Force Station, Calif.; and 
Galena Airport Forward Operation Location, Alaska.

Other BRAC panel votes will:

    * Transfer the Army's 4th Infantry Division from Fort Hood, Texas, 
to Fort Carson, Colo.;
    * Keep the Army Logistics School at Fort Eustis, Va., rather than 
moving it to Fort Rucker, Ala.;
    * Block the move of active-component combat aircraft from Eielson 
Air Force Base, Alaska;
    * Move thousands of defense jobs from leased space in Northern 
Virginia to nearby Fort Belvoir, Va., Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., 
and Fort Meade, Md.; and
    * Stop the move of about 1,000 jobs to Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass.

The commission began its final deliberations Aug. 24 in Arlington, Va., 
and has worked late each night, hoping to wrap up the proceedings late 
today.

In major actions since Aug. 24, the BRAC commission voted to close:

    * Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C., moving most of 
its mission to the new Walter Reed National Medical Center in nearby 
Bethesda, Md., current site of the National Naval Medical Center;
    * Fort Monmouth, N.J.;
    * Fort Gillem, Ga.;
    * Fort McPherson, Ga.;
    * Fort Monroe, Va.;
    * U.S. Army Garrison, Selfridge, Mich.;
    * Almost 400 Army Reserve and Army National Guard facilities, 
creating joint centers;
    * Naval Station Pascagoula, Miss.;
    * Naval Air Station Atlanta, Ga.;
    * Naval Station Ingleside, Texas;
    * Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas; and
    * Brooks City-Base, Texas.

The panel voted to keep open:

    * Submarine Base, New London, Conn.;
    * Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Maine;
    * Hawthorne Army Depot, Nev.;
    * Defense Language Institute, Monterey, Calif.; and
    * Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., establishing a 
governing board to coordinate education programs between that school and 
the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force 
Base, Ohio.

The panel also voted to:

    * Wait until March 31, 2006, before deciding whether to close 
Oceana Naval Air Station, Va., giving local and state authorities time 
to make proposed changes to limit residential encroachment on the base;
    * Realign rather than close Red River Army Depot, Texas;
    * Keep the Night Vision Lab at Fort Belvoir, Va., instead of moving 
it to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.; and
    * Order a study of the practicality of converting a chemical 
weapons incinerator to incinerate conventional munitions before deciding 
whether to close Deseret Chemical Depot, Utah.

After wrapping up its deliberations, the panel will send its final 
report to President Bush by Sept. 8. The president, if he concurs, will 
send the final list to Congress, which can accept or reject it in its 
entirety, but not change it.

This week's sessions follow months of hearings around the country 
regarding DoD's plan, which defense officials say will save some $49 
billion over the next 20 years.

For the original press release, see
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Aug2005/20050826_2541.html


--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
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