Washington – 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 drastically reduce forces there, arguing that savings could be realized more quickly if it was shut down altogether.
Over the past four months, the nine-member panel has expressed worries that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s proposal would leave the Northeast unprotected.
But the decisions to spare both the submarine base and the shipyard was somewhat of a surprise. Lobbyists and some lawmakers had privately speculated that the panel would save one base but scrap the other.
In the end, the panel sided with community groups and lawmakers from the Northeast.
“This is a sweet victory,” said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., among Congress members, former President Carter and a dozen admirals had urged the commission to save the Connecticut base.
“If we close New London down, we will never get it back,” said the commission’s chairman, Anthony Principi. “I think it would be a tragic mistake, a tragic loss for this nation.” But lobbying efforts to save other major bases failed, as the panel sided with the Pentagon in shutting down Fort Gillem and Fort McPherson in Georgia, Fort Monroe in Virginia, Army Garrison Selfridge in Michigan and Fort Monmouth in New Jersey.
The panel also signed off on closing nearly 400 Army Reserve and National Guard facilities in dozens of states, creating instead new joint centers.
Most of the Army’s proposal was approved in minutes as a package before the commission moved on to the fate of Navy bases.
Commissioners had said changes to the Pentagon’s proposal were likely before they send their final report next month to President Bush, who could make his own changes. Congress also will get the chance to reject the plan after Bush considers it. Lawmakers haven’t done that in previous rounds.
Before voting started, Principi said reviewing the proposal to close or shrink hundreds of bases set a daunting and unprecedented challenge for commissioners.
“The commission went to extraordinary lengths to ensure the soundness, correctness and integrity of the base realignment and closure process and to fulfill our commitment to transparency, honesty and fairness for all,” said Principi, a former Veterans Affairs secretary.
He said the task was especially difficult because Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s proposal included more than double the recommendations in the four previous rounds of base closings combined.
Opening at least three days of final deliberations on which bases to spare and which to scrap, Principi said the commission recognizes that closing bases is necessary to save money and transform the military to meet new challenges.
“At the same time, we know that the decisions we reach will have a profound impact on the communities hosting our military installations, and more importantly, on the people who bring those communities to life,” he said.
To reject a recommendation, the commission had to find that the Pentagon substantially deviated from criteria that focuses mainly on the military value of each facility.
Previous commissions – in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995 – altered about 15 percent of what the Pentagon proposed as it sought to get rid of bases considered no longer needed. But analysts say the post-Sept. 11 threat of terrorism makes this time different.
“It’s not about just trying to get rid of excess capacity. It’s actually about trying to reorganize the forces for future challenges,” said Loren Thompson, a military analyst with the Lexington Institute, a think tank in Arlington, Va.
On Tuesday, Rumsfeld was optimistic his plan would remain largely intact, predicting the commission would endorse “the overwhelming majority” of his recommendations.
The Pentagon proposed closing or consolidating a record 62 major military bases and 775 smaller installations to save $48.8 billion over 20 years, streamline the services and reposition the armed forces to face current threats.
Since the Pentagon announced its proposal in May, commissioners reviewing the plan have voiced serious concerns about several parts of it, including the Pentagon’s estimate of how much money will be saved.
The most contentious issues have been the Air Force’s proposal to strip aircraft from about two dozen Air National Guard facilities and the Navy’s efforts to scale back its forces in New England.
Commissioners fear those proposals could hamper homeland security, a contention the Pentagon rejects.
The Air Force’s attempt to close Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, home to freshman Republican Sen. John Thune, has stirred the most political consternation. Thune argued during the 2004 campaign that he – not Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle – would be in a better position to save the facility.
The panel must send its final proposal to Bush by Sept. 8. The president can accept the report or order the commission to make changes.
