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PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A federal judge ruled on Friday that the Pentagon had broken the law in seeking to close down the 111th Fighter Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard without first obtaining the governor's approval. The ruling was a victory for Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, who challenged the Pentagon's plan to close the fighter wing at a naval base near Philadelphia. The disputed closure, which would cost more than 1,200 jobs, is part of round of planned domestic military base reductions. The case was closely watched by other U.S states affected by the program because it could set...

BRAC commission just voted to keep Cannon AFB open until December 31, 2009, but with no mission. Existing fighter wings will be transfered as proposed by DOD. If the AF/DOD does not find a mission by that time, it will be closed. Vote was 6-1-2 recusals. Links coming up

WASHINGTON - The base closing commission voted Friday to keep open Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota — rejecting the Pentagon's plan to close it — as the panel labored toward conclusion of a politically delicate task that has brought alternating sighs of relief and exasperation in communities across America. The surprise decision was a setback for Pentagon leaders, a blessing for South Dakotans who feared losing some 4,000 jobs, and a victory for Sen. John Thune and the state's other politicians who lobbied vigorously to save the base. Thune, a freshman Republican, unseated then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle...

Panel spares S. Dakota air base, senator relieved Fri Aug 26, 2005 12:48 PM ET By David Lawder WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - A military panel on Friday voted to keep open South Dakota's Ellsworth Air Base, a decision that overturned a Pentagon recommendation and spared the state's Republican senator a major political defeat. The decision to preserve the base for the Cold War-era B-1 bomber was a victory for Sen. John Thune, a freshman Republican who beat former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle last November based on his claims that he would be better placed to save the facility....

Commission Votes to Save Ellsworth Base By LIZ SIDOTI Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The base closing commission voted Friday to keep open Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota - rejecting the Pentagon's plan to close it - as the panel labored toward conclusion of a politically delicate task that has brought alternating sighs of relief and exasperation in communities across America. The surprise decision was a setback for Pentagon leaders, a blessing for South Dakotans who feared losing some 4,000 jobs, and a victory for Sen. John Thune and the state's other politicians who lobbied vigorously to...

By Liz Sidoti, The Associated PressEuropean edition, Thursday, August 25, 2005 J. Scott Applewhite / AP With fate of the Navy submarine base at New London, Conn., at stake, Anthony J. Principi, center, chairman of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, leads the vote to keep the Atlantic Coast sub facility, rejecting the Department of Defense recommendation for closure, during the BRAC hearing in Arlington, Va., Wednesday. The verdict ... Stars and StripesThe nine-member Base Realignment and Closure Commission voted Wednesday to shutter major Army bases in Georgia and Michigan, and to close nearly 400 Army Reserve and National Guard...

ANCHORAGE—The Base Realignment and Closure Commission on Thursday rejected the Pentagon’s proposal to place Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks on “warm” status. Instead, commissioners recommended keeping the 354th Fighter Wing’s F-16 fighter planes at the base instead of distributing all fighter aircraft to installations outside Alaska. The base's A-10s would be relocated to Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. The 168th air refueling wing, a National Guard unit, would remain at home as well. “I don’t think it can be kept in warm status,” said commission member James Hansen before the vote was taken. “It would be rather foolish...

McLEAN, Va. (AP) - A federal commission voted Thursday to move tens of thousands of military and civilian defense jobs from the close-in suburbs of northern Virginia to military bases outside the Capital Beltway despite concerns that such a massive jobs shift could create traffic nightmares. In May, the Pentagon recommended to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission that 23,000 military and civilian defense employees working in leased office space in the suburbs of Alexandria and Arlington County be relocated to military bases outside the Capital Beltway, including Fort Belvoir, Va., Fort Meade, Md., and Quantico Marine Corps Base, Va....

The legendary Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, considered by many as the centerpiece of Army hospitals, will close as a result of a decision Thursday morning by a federal panel. City leaders and health care officials reacted with little surprise, but much frustration, over losing the nearly 100-year-old hospital. D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, speaking on WTOP's "Ask the Mayor" program, said, "You can't be happy about this if you live in the District of Columbia or work at Walter Reed. But we knew we had an uphill struggle here. They were set to do it their way."...

BRAC’s ultimatum comes with big price tag By KERRY DOUGHERTY, The Virginian-Pilot © August 25, 2005 You’ve got to hand it to members of the Virginia Beach City Council. Their timing is exquisite. On the night before we learned that their canoodling with developers had led to the almost inevitable realignment of Oceana, six members of that embarrassing body voted themselves big fat pay raises. We always knew they were shameless. Now it looks like they’ve gone mad. Frankly, no council in Virginia was ever less deserving of a pay hike. I don’t care what shade of lipstick Beach officials...

Just reported on Fox News. Will merge its mission into Bethesda Naval Hospital which is nearby. Good decision: A bad, poorly located campus that needs updating really badly....has needed it for decades.

When then-House Republican backbencher Dick Armey came up with the concept of an independent base-closing commission in the mid-1980s, the idea was to make it easier for the political system to do the right thing... As we're seeing in the current round of base closings, even the Armey method is having a hard time surviving the ability of Members to sabotage the process.... The Pentagon has proposed closing a record 62 major bases and 775 small installations to save $48.8 billion over 20 years and reposition the armed forces to face current threats.... Before the Brac Commission was even in...

WASHINGTON - Tennessee Congressional Democrats are backing Gov. Phil Bredesen in his lawsuit to stop the Defense Department from moving a Nashville-based airlift wing's planes to bases elsewhere in the country. But Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee won't join them, saying a Bredesen victory would undermine the Pentagon's Base Realignment and Closure process. At issue is the Pentagon's recommendation to strip the 118th Airlift Wing of equipment and personnel, including its C-130 transport planes, which would be relocated to Kentucky, Illinois and Texas. Bredesen's suit argues it is against federal law for an Air National Guard unit to...

WASHINGTON - The commission weighing the Pentagon's plan to restructure hundreds of U.S. military bases on Wednesday spared an Army depot in Texas and a submarine base in Connecticut from being shut down. However, as it began final voting Wednesday with lightning speed, the panel agreed with Pentagon proposals to close several other major bases elsewhere and approved most of the recommendations made by the Army and the Navy. Many were changes at relatively small facilities.The nine-member panel chose to keep open the Red River Army Depot in Texas and Submarine Base New London in Connecticut, against the Pentagon's wishes.The...

Texas, Connecticut Spared Base Closings By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer The commission weighing the Pentagon's plan to restructure hundreds of U.S. military bases on Wednesday spared an Army depot in Texas and a submarine base in Connecticut from being shut down. However, as it began final voting Wednesday with lightning speed, the panel agreed with Pentagon proposals to close several other major bases elsewhere and approved most of the recommendations made by the Army and the Navy. Many were changes at relatively small facilities. The nine-member panel chose to keep open the Red River Army Depot in Texas and...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Overruling the Pentagon on two of its biggest requests, a commission reviewing base closings voted to keep open a shipyard and a submarine base in New England that military planners wanted to shut down. The panel also spared the Red River Army Depot in Texas against Pentagon wishes. The commission voted to save the Portsmouth shipyard at Kittery, Maine, and Submarine Base New London in Connecticut, two economic engines of their region and the subjects of intense lobbying to save them. In another reversal, the commission decided to close Naval Air Station Brunswick in Maine, rather than...

WASHINGTON -- By an 8-0 vote Wednesday, the Base Closure Commission approved shutting down the Concord Naval Weapon Station -- a decision that local officials had lobbied for claiming they needed the land for new homes and commercial development. Concord is celebrating the centennial of the town's incorporation this year, and Mayor Laura Hoffmeister said having the base released would be a new beginning "because we've got 20 to 30 years of development opportunities out in that area. It certainly will be a new chapter in our next 100 years of history." Meanwhile, commissioners weighing the Pentagon's plan to restructure...

Commission Votes to Close Five Army Bases By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer 9 minutes ago The commission considering the Pentagon's proposal to restructure hundreds of U.S. military bases voted to shut down five major Army bases in Georgia, New Jersey, Virginia and Michigan. As it began final voting Wednesday with lightning speed, the nine-member panel also signed off on closing nearly 400 Army Reserve and National Guard facilities in dozens of states, creating instead new joint centers. The commission decided to side with the Pentagon in closing Fort Gillem and Fort McPherson in Georgia, Fort Monroe in Virginia, the...

By First Coast News Staff WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a little more than two weeks the Pentagon's Base Realignment And Closure Commission will give its recommendations to President Bush, and many communities are doing everything they can to keep their local military bases from being mothballed. But the Governor of Pennsylvania has gone a step further -- he was in court Thursday asking a judge to side with him against the Pentagon. The case highlights the growing tension between states and the federal government on who gives marching orders to state National Guards. The Willow Grove Naval Air Station, outside...

WASHINGTON -- A Georgia congressman on Tuesday accused former President Jimmy Carter of going against his home state at a critical time for a Georgia naval base trying to land several submarines from Connecticut. Rep. Jack Kingston, a Republican who represents southeast Georgia, complained that the letter Carter sent last week to the chairman of the Base Closure and Realignment Commission could be devastating to Kings Bay because of his clout. In the letter, Carter warns of an "adverse economic impact" should the Groton, Conn., base be closed, as the Pentagon is recommending. On Wednesday, the independent Base Closure and...