[CPEO-MEF] BRAC strategiesz

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

A Tale of Two Military Bases

By Stan Crock
Business Week
December 8, 2004

The communities around March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County,
Calif., and Hanscom Air Force Base outside Boston are taking quite
different tacks in their campaigns to avoid the axe in March, when
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is scheduled to announce proposed base
closings. The southern California community has enlisted PMA Group, a
little-known but powerful Arlington (Va.) firm, to deploy its lobbyists
in a traditional effort to avert a shutdown. Massachusetts is trying
something more innovative: A public-private-academic coalition that
plans to create an indispensable laboratory for 21st century military
capabilities. 

Which strategy will succeed won't be known until September, when the
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission makes a final
determination, which is then subject to a vote by Congress. As much as
25% of current base capacity isn't needed because the military's rolls
have shrunk by a third since the end of the Cold War. Though the
military isn't expected to slash all the excess, this fifth round of
base realignments is sending tremors through every community that hosts
a military facility. 

...

For the entire article, see
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/bw/20041208/bs_bw/nf20041289707db056

-- 


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
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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