Consolidation could save $7B each year
By Maureen Groppe
Gannett News Service
The Defense Department is gearing up to close or realign military bases nationwide. States and communities are trying to protect local bases, which generate thousands of jobs and billions in economic activity and tax revenue.
Some questions and answers about the base closure process:
Question: Why does the government want to close some bases and realign others?
Answer: A 1998 Defense Department study found 20 percent to 25 percent excess capacity in military installations. The military believes it can save about $7 billion a year by consolidating its operations. It also wants a chance to reorganize for new and anticipated national security needs, particularly after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Q: Has this happened before?
A: The government closed or realigned about 450 installations in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995. Ninety-seven of the bases closed and 55 of those realigned were major domestic bases. Not all bases lose jobs or military missions when they are restructured. The Army's Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri benefited from the 1995 BRAC round when the military police and chemical schools were moved to the base from Fort McClellan, Ala. As a result, Fort Leonard Wood gained about 2,000 military and civilian employees and more than 2,500 dependents who needed additional housing and facilities.
Q: How will the government decide what bases to close?
A: The Defense Department has published a list of criteria it will use. It's available at www.defenselink.mil/brac/. Click on the link to 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Selection Criteria. The most important one is military value, which refers to a base's current and future mission capabilities, its condition, ability to accommodate future needs and cost of operations. A base's ability to serve as a staging area for homeland defense missions also is considered.
Q. What's the schedule for deciding which bases to close or realign?
A: The secretary of defense will recommend closures and other changes to a Base Realignment and Closure commission by Monday.
Commission members will visit every base recommended for closure and hold public hearings. Then they will vote on whether to accept, reject or change the defense secretary's recommendations. Past commissions approved about 85 percent of the Defense Department's closure list.
The commission's report is sent to the White House in September for the president to accept or reject in its entirety.
If the president rejects it, the commission goes back to work.
If the president approves the list, Congress has 45 days to reject or accept the entire list. If Congress rejects the list, no bases are closed.
Q: Which states have been hardest hit by base closures?
A: Twenty-eight states and Guam have had major base closures. California has lost 24 bases. Texas has lost seven; Pennsylvania, six; Illinois and New York, five each; and Florida, Indiana, Maryland and Virginia have lost four apiece.
Hawai'i has lost one major base. Barbers Point Naval Air Station closed in 1999 through the BRAC process.
These 22 states did not lose a major base in the previous rounds: Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Q: How long does it take a base to close?
A: Targeted bases have up to six years to shut down.
Source: Defense Department
