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Thursday, August 4, 2005 'Hold' attributed to Snowe By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press ©Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. E-mail this story to a friend SOUTH PORTLAND - Sen. Olympia Snowe on Wednesday declined to confirm reports that she has blocked the nomination of Gordon England to the No. 2 Pentagon job because she is frustrated over the Pentagon's base closure recommendations. The Wall Street Journal and Defense Daily reported that Snowe, R-Maine, has put a "hold" on England's nomination to serve as deputy secretary of defense. President Bush in May designated England to be acting deputy secretary even...

      SENATORS SNOWE, COLLINS COSPONSOR BRAC BILL   Bill Would Allow Military Personnel to Advocate for Bases Before BRAC Commission   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jen Burita or Elissa Davidson Thursday, May 26, 2005 Phone: 202-224-2523 WASHINGTON, DC—Senators Snowe and Collins have joined a group of their colleagues in cosponsoring legislation that would allow uniformed servicemembers to testify before the BRAC Commission as to the military value of defense installations listed on the Department of Defense recommended BRAC list. Further, this bill ensures that servicemembers who choose to testify will be protected against retaliation of any kind....

Speaking out for the first time in favor of controversial base closings, President Bush said Friday the nation is wasting billions of dollars on unnecessary military facilities and needs the money for the war on terrorism. Bush, who faces opposition from many states to shutting down bases, tried to be reassuring. He said the bases would be chosen fairly and the government would do all it could to help affected communities recover. But he made clear that the process — however painful — could not be avoided. In a speech to graduates of the Naval Academy, he said the closings...

TOKYO (AP) - Just outside Tokyo, city officials gathered nearly 60,000 signatures in one month to stop the possible expansion of a U.S. Army camp. In South Korea, 1,000 workers fearing for their jobs rallied outside the main base there and vowed a bigger protest was ahead. While the United States works out its biggest set of domestic military base closures in decades, countries from Germany to South Korea are bracing for a major restructuring as well, with new hosts being courted and as many as 70,000 U.S. troops expected to head home over the next decade. Mirroring the domestic...

ROA Says BRAC Recommendation Raises Serious Concerns on Reserve Component, National Securityposted 5/13/2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Washington (May 13, 2005)—Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s announcement this morning on Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) raises serious concerns on its impact on the Reserve Component in the U.S. Armed Forces. While the announcement shows 33 major bases recommended for closure and 29 others for realignment, it does not provide details on more than 400 National Guard and Reserve installations and facilities included on the list. For example, the information that DoD provided gave no indication on the number of Guardsmen and Reservists...

Saturday, May 14, 2005 Maine takes big hit By BART JANSEN, Washington Correspondent Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. E-mail this story to a friend Staff photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette Maine Sen. Susan Collins rips into the base-closure recommendations at a Friday press conference in Brunswick. With her, from left, are U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, Gov. John Baldacci, U.S. Rep. Tom Allen and U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe. With Maine bearing the brunt of a plan to restructure the nation's military, lawmakers and community leaders vowed Friday to fight plans to close Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery and halve...

WASHINGTON -- The 2005 Base Realignmnent and Closure Commission began its work here yesterday. Commission Chairman Anthony J. Principi, former secretary of veterans affairs, administered the oath of office to the eight commissioners who will evaluate the Defense Department's recommendations for changes in U.S. force posture. After evaluating DoD's recommendations, the independent BRAC Commission will submit its own list to the president for review and approval, then to Congress, which must accept or reject the list in its entirety. "The Congress and the president look to this commission to provide an unbiased, independent assessment and clear 'eye of reality check'...

Supervisors accuse harbor officials of seeking the closure of the Port Hueneme naval installation to acquire facilities for expansion.***************** Jockeying over jobs-rich Naval Base Ventura County reached a fever pitch Tuesday, with the Board of Supervisors condemning what it says are behind-the-scenes efforts to have the base added to the Pentagon's closure list, while operators of an adjacent port say they are simply exploring expansion opportunities.

Faced with another round of military base closures in 2005, communities surrounding Edwards Air Force Base have pooled their efforts to make sure the economically vital facility stays off the closure list. Now the group itself is looking for assistance to ensure that it can carry out that work. The Edwards Community Alliance was formed two years ago with representatives of Boron, California City, Mojave, Rosamond, Tehachapi and Lancaster, as well as Kern and Los Angeles counties. The Aerospace Office in Lancaster is under contract as a facilitator and to offer technical expertise. The organization works to support and promote...

Fredericksburg (VA) Free Lance-Star May 20, 2002 Pg. 1 Group To Shield Bases: Another round of closings coming By Ruth Finch Congress has decided more military cuts are coming in 2005. But a task force led by 1st District Rep. Jo Anne Davis is trying to keep the knife from slicing bases in this region, includ-ing the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Quantico Marine Corps Base on the Stafford-Prince William county line and the Army's Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline County. "We're hopeful that the national defense value of these bases is already well known and these facilities would...