OMAHA, Neb.—U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson wants to make sure Nebraska’s Offutt Air Force base doesn’t unfairly lose out again on a new unit that could bring hundreds of jobs to the area.
Nelson said Monday that he sent a letter to Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, requesting information to ensure that the basing decision for the headquarters for the new Air Force cyberspace command will be open and fair.
The cyberspace command, dubbed the 24th Air Force, could bring about 400 new military and civilian jobs.
Its mission: protect key computers and networks and conduct offensive cyberspace operations.
Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, said Offutt got the highest overall score on criteria given for basing the new Air Force Global Strike Command and its 900 jobs, but a Louisiana base was chosen instead. He said it’s not fair to the Bellevue and Omaha communities, which spent time and money to meet the criteria put forth. Offutt is south of Omaha.
“What are the criteria we don’t know about?” Nelson said Monday. “We don’t know what we don’t know, and they need to tell us what we really need to know.”
Omaha Chamber President David Brown said they spent 2 1/2 years working to bring the cyberspace command to Offutt, and seven to eight months trying to attract the Global Strike Command. The effort was “not inexpensive,” Brown said.
“We’ve invested a good bit of money making sure the base would be available for future missions,” Brown said.
Nelson told Donley in the letter he was concerned that communities were being leveraged each other so the Air Force could get the most financial incentives.
“(I)t is unfair to the communities investing considerable amounts of time and resources to be misled into thinking that said criteria will actually determine the selection,” Nelson wrote.
Nelson first wrote to Donley on April 3, asking him to explain why Offutt was skipped over.
In a letter Nelson said he received Monday, Donley said there were several reasons the Air Force picked Barksdale Air Force Base, east of Shreveport, La., for the Global Strike Command.
— There was more synergy between the Global Strike Command and the Barksdale base;
— The Air Force has more nuclear-related personnel, units and command infrastructure at Barksdale;
— Keeping the two major nuclear command headquarters physically separate makes sense, in case of an attack. Offutt houses the Air Force Strategic Command headquarters.
The Global Strike Command will consolidate control of the Air Force’s nuclear-capable missiles and jet wings. It is being created in part because of missteps in the handling and oversight of nuclear weapons and components.
Air Force spokesman Gary Strasburg said Monday that no decision has been made on the location for the cyberspace command.
Strasburg said the decision has been put on hold pending a briefing planned this month for President Barack Obama. The briefing could affect the decision, Strasburg said.
“I am not sure when that will happen but everything else is awaiting for that,” he said.
Nelson said he’s confident President Barack Obama will make the decision that’s best for the nation’s security when it comes to the cyberspace command. Nelson said he hasn’t spoken to Obama about the decision yet, but he plans to.
An Air Force panel made the decision to put the Global Strike Command in Louisiana. Nelson said the decision “might have been better for the Air Force, but it may not be better for national defense.”
Barksdale is also a candidate for the cyberspace headquarters, as are Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas; Langley in Hampton, Va.; Peterson at Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Scott Air Force Base near Belleville, Ill.
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