Posted on 03/08/2005 1:34:15 PM PST by Stand Watch Listen
President Bush is expected within a week to finish naming members of the nine-person commission that will determine which U.S. military bases will be shut down.
On March 4, Bush nominated former Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi to chair the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission.
The Senate must approve Principi and the remaining eight BRAC nominees. Bush has until March 15 to submit all the names.
The president is allowed to pick three of the commissioners and designate one of them as chairman. House and Senate leaders pick the other six, but those recommendations are subject to White House approval.
The 2005 BRAC review, the fifth since 1989, is intended to reduce excess capacity in the military’s infrastructure and save billions of dollars. But closing bases also can cost jobs.
The review already has received resistance from Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., who last year proposed an amendment to scrap the base closure round altogether. In an editorial published Monday in USA Today, Lott called the BRAC commission a “congressional cop-out” that relies on a “paranoia-driven process that wastes time and money.”
The senator, chairman of the Rules and Administration Committee, said domestic bases should remain open so long as the nation remains at war. The focus should shift to closing overseas bases, he said.
The Pentagon already is in the midst of determining which bases it will close overseas. The “global posture review” is expected to return to the United States about 70,000 military personnel and 100,000 family members. Pentagon officials said there is enough room at U.S. military bases to house the troops, even with the completion of the 2005 BRAC process.
House and Senate leaders have given their list of BRAC nominees to the White House.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., chose two retired officers: Army Gen. John G. Coburn, former commanding general of Army Materiel Command and the service’s deputy chief of staff for logistics, and Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr., former commander of Joint Forces Command.
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., was also given two selections. He named former Rep. James V. Hansen, R-Utah (1981-2003), and Samuel K. Skinner, an Illinois native who was former President George Bush’s chief of staff.
The House and Senate minority leaders were given one nomination each for the commission. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., chose former Nevada Rep. James Bilbray (1987-1995), a fellow Democrat. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., chose Philip E. Coyle III of Los Angeles. Coyle, a missile defense expert, was the Pentagon’s chief tester from 1994 to 2001.
Pelosi has submitted two other names: former Rep. Vic Fazio, D-Calif. (1979-1999), and Wade Sanders, a San Diego attorney and former deputy assistant Navy secretary.
Fazio withdrew and Sanders — who supported Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in Kerry’s bid last year for president — is widely expected not to be accepted by the White House.
Key Dates for BRAC Process
March 15: Deadline for President Bush to name members of the fifth Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission.
May 16: Deadline for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to give the BRAC commission and Congress the Pentagon’s recommendations for military facilities that should be closed.
Sept. 8: Deadline for the BRAC commission to make its own base closure recommendations.
Sept. 23: Deadline for a presidential decision on whether to accept or reject the BRAC recommendations in their entirety — the White House’s only options. If Bush accepts the plan, it becomes final within 45 legislative days, unless Congress passes a joint resolution to block the entire package.
Oct. 20: If Bush rejects the BRAC recommendations, the commission has until this date to submit a revised list of proposed closures.
Nov. 7: Deadline for the president to approve or disapprove the revised recommendations.
April 15, 2006: The commission terminates.
Yeah, that makes loads of sense. Under Posse Comitatus, we are limited in how troops can be used within the United States. So what good would troops stationed here be for Homeland Security?
Methinks that Trent is more interested in pork than security.
Watch.
The pork indepted Senators will find another issue to use to target the people behind these base closures. Last time they went after Rummy's head for answering a quesion honestly, conveniently ignoring the whole of his response in favor of one sentence out of context.
Why are these bases being handed over to local communities anyway? With very few exceptions (e.g. Subbase New London) these bases were paid for and developed with US taxpayer dollars and then they are turned over gratis, usually with lots of cash, to local politicians. If that isn't a recipe for disaster there never was one.
Here's what I think should be done. DoD should develop (or allow to be developed) the bases for civilian use without *ANY* local interference. Then conduct a sale to the highest bidder before it reverts to local control. Hell, handling the Presidio of San Francisco like that, along with Fort DeRussy, would probably have eliminated the national debt.
The one aspect of the BRAC process that I have serious questions about is the ’s part.
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