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WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld predicted Tuesday that a federal commission will endorse "the overwhelming majority" of his proposals to close, shrink or expand hundreds of military bases across the country. For its part, the nine-member panel has promised not to rubber-stamp the Pentagon chief's plan, and commissioners say changes are likely before they send their final report to President Bush next month. Previous commissions -- in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995 -- altered about 15 percent of whatSept. 11, 2001, era. "It's not about just trying to get rid of excess capacity. It's actually about trying to...

The Base Realignment and Closure Commission will have finished its work by week's end, and Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota probably will be closed forever. That also will close Sen. John Thune's tenure as national Republican poster boy following his victory last year over Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle. This is a cautionary tale of what happens when politicians forget politics.

The Base Realignment and Closure Commission will have finished its work by week's end, and Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota probably will be closed forever.

Pentagon Tries to Ease BRAC Fears | WASHINGTON - Pentagon officials said Saturday in their final appearance before the commission reviewing their plan to close or scale back military bases that the changes do not overestimate savings and would strengthen national security. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's representatives sought to ease concerns of the nine-member panel just days before it votes on whether to accept or reject parts of a proposal that would affect hundreds of bases. At least some commissioners still were skeptical. "I still don't buy their argument about savings," Anthony Principi, the commission's chairman, told The Associated...

C. M. Glover for The New York TimesThe submarine base in Groton, Conn., is among 33 major bases the Pentagon is seeking to close. GROTON, Conn., Aug. 19 - In a report to Congress in March 2004, the Navy projected that it would need a fleet of 55 nuclear-powered attack submarines in 2024. A year later, the Navy lowered the projection to 45. By May, Admiral Vern Clark, who was then the chief of naval operations, said he wanted 41. Others now talk of a fleet in the 30's. It has been 16 years since the Berlin Wall fell,...

WASHINGTON -- The Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) will have finished its work by week's end, and Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota probably will be closed forever. That also will close Sen. John Thune's tenure as national Republican poster boy following his victory last year over Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle. This is a cautionary tale of what happens when politicians forget politics. President Bill Clinton saved Ellsworth for then Sen. Daschle during the last BRAC process in 1995, but President George W. Bush was detached in 2005. The resulting closure demolishes Thune's home state prestige and threatens...

WASHINGTON — Air Force officials made a final public plea yesterday for their plan to overhaul more than 24 Air National Guard units, warning the squadrons would steadily become more ineffective and poorly equipped unless their proposal were approved. Testifying with other Pentagon officials at the last public hearing of the nine-member commission assessing the Pentagon's base-closing plan, the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. John Jumper, warned "this round of closures and realignment represents the last opportunity we will have for a generation to reset our forces." The Air Force wants to retire aging aircraft from many Guard units,...

A proposed overhaul of more than two dozen Air National Guard units has emerged as the most contentious issue in the Pentagon's larger plan to close, consolidate or realign hundreds of military sites nationwide. The Air Force wants to retire aging aircraft from many Guard units, close or consolidate some of their bases and give some units new missions, like flying remotely piloted Predator aircraft, that are better suited to today's national security environment, Air Force officials say. But doing that would leave more than two dozen states without emergency aircraft to fight fires, recover from hurricanes and cope with...

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Mullen told members of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission Aug. 4 that Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana is central to the Navy's current readiness and that he fully supports the Department of Defense's original recommendations for an East Coast master jet base. “That base, certainly for the foreseeable future, is NAS Oceana,” Mullen said. In his first testimony since assuming duties as the Chief of Naval Operations July 22, Mullen said NAS Oceana continues to play a significant role in ensuring the effective training and readiness of...

The FAS's Secrecy News has obtained documents that question the assumptions that the DOD used in making base realignment and closure (BRAC) recommendations for the DOD's RDT&E centers. Items posted include an undated overview from “a concerned citizen”; a June 18, 2004, paper written by an internal defense analyst criticizing “military value metrics”; and a May 10, 2005, paper that found significant flaws in DOD’s methodology for deciding base closures. Also posted are a July 21, 2005, letter from Sen. John Warner (R-VA) requesting a copy of all papers by the analyst on BRAC proposals and a July 25, 2005,...

WASHINGTON - Montana Republicans criticized Democratic Sen. Max Baucus on Friday for revealing his plan to reopen the closed runway at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls too early. Baucus said Wednesday that adding the Malmstrom provision to a massive highway spending bill moving through Congress was a "done deal." But House members objected to the language Thursday, delaying passage of the bill and forcing Baucus to abandon the plan Friday morning. "The timing was very bad," said Montana's other senator, Republican Conrad Burns. He said Friday that this week's public flap about Malmstrom will make it harder for...

SIERRA VISTA - It's déjà vu - again. Some civilian community leaders are again looking to bring the military's Defense Language Institute to Fort Huachuca or to build a campus for the school in Sierra Vista. The Defense Language Institute - DLI - was added to the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission list last week, which could lead to transferring the school to another area. DLI is now located at the Army's Presidio of Monterey in California. In 1993, Sierra Vista leaders suggested DLI be moved from California to Arizona because of the importance language training had to the...

The difference between Langley Air Force Base and Oceana Naval Air Station on the base closure list is a case of sound and fury. Every nine minutes or so, an F-15 or F/A-22 comes in over Back River at about 245 mph on a path that's gradual and shallow and which leads to the softest, quietest touchdown possible. Col. Tom Tinsley calls it a "don't-spill-the-coffee-on-the-guy-in-first-class" landing. The pilot cuts power, works the brakes and eventually coasts to a stop on an adjoining concrete parking lot. Langley Air Force base has received five complaints this year from people who say their...

The Bush administration is threatening to veto a sweeping defense bill if lawmakers try to delay the latest round of military base closures. Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota has proposed an amendment to the defense bill that would require the Pentagon to await the return of U.S. troops from Iraq before Congress signs off on a final base-closing plan. Thune is trying to save Ellsworth Air Force Base. His amendment has the support of Republicans and Democrats from Maine, Connecticut, New Jersey and New Mexico. The Senate debated the bill Friday but may not complete work on it...

WASHINGTON – The base-closing commission voted Tuesday to add two military facilities, in California and Maine, to the list of hundreds of domestic bases that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has proposed closing and shrinking. The Navy Broadway Complex in San Diego and the Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine, were added to the list of facilities to be closed. The commission also was voting on whether to add bases in nine other states and Washington, D.C. In a reprieve for California, the commission voted against putting the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on the closure list even though several commissioners...

WASHINGTON - Military installations in California, Maine and Virginia were added Tuesday to the hundreds that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had already proposed for closing or shrinking. ADVERTISEMENT The Navy Broadway Complex in San Diego and the Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine, were placed on the list of facilities to be closed. The Naval Master Jet Base at the Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia, which the Pentagon proposed trimming in size, would be reduced even further or shut down, the base-closing commission voted. The commission was voting Tuesday on whether to add facilities in 11 states and...

By Jeff Quinton Special to World Defense Review The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) committee process is always approached with trepidation by civilian leadership in military communities across the United States. There was a great deal of national table-talk regarding the preparations states and communities made in an attempt to stave off the closure of local bases, and lots of discussion surrounding the initial reactions after the list was released earlier this year. Let's now take a look at the various ways in which states and communities attempt to save their bases already slated for closing. Like the previous BRAC...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday urged a federal panel to shield nearly a dozen state military installations slated for closure, saying "the bases that are here should stay here." But despite the potential loss of about 2,000 jobs, the Republican governor acknowledged that the state escaped largely unscathed in the latest round of base closings proposed in May by the Defense Department. The government's list is "good news for California and the country," Schwarzenegger told members of the Base Closure and Realignment Commission, which is reviewing the proposed changes. "It shows that Washington understands what we...

The state plans to file a federal lawsuit seeking to stop the closure of a military base near Philadelphia because only the governor can deactivate the Air National Guard unit based there, officials said today. The lawsuit, which Gov. Ed Rendell and other politicians revealed today, claims the Department of Defense is overstepping its bounds in recommending the deactivation of the 111th Fighter Wing of the Pennsylvania National Guard. The governor is commander of the state's Air National Guard and therefore only he can recommend deactivation of the unit, Rendell said. "The more than 1,000 men and women assigned to...

AUGUSTA - Proposed military cutbacks and other potential economic developments in Maine could leave the state reeling for years, according to some economic analysts. Members of the state Revenue Forecasting Committee and the Consensus Economic Forecasting Commission met jointly Thursday morning to weigh the potential economic impact for the state should the Base Realignment and Closure Commission decide to take action against three major installations in Maine. The two panels are composed of more than a dozen of the state's leading economists, who fear such action could deliver a blow that would set the state back 10 years. John Davulis,...