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DoD Base Realignment
And Closure - 2005
Archives Page one
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 11, 2005 - When a DoD installation closes,
the department doesn't just pull chocks and fly off.
DoD's Office of Economic Adjustment works with communities
to help them through the base closing process and help them
transform.
The motto of the office is "Helping Communities Help
Themselves," and the men and women of the office take that
very seriously, said office director Patrick O'Brien. O'Brien
has worked his way up the ranks in the office since the first
base realignment and closure process began in 1989.
"We're a field activity under the secretary of defense," he
said during an interview. "Our mission is to work with
communities affected by defense program changes."
The public thinks of base closures, but the office also helps
communities gaining military assets, bases affected by
elimination of weapons systems and bases being encroached on
by civilian activities.
The organization has been around since the early 1960s. "When
a base closes, often it is a significant economic engine in the
community," O'Brien said. "We work with the communities to
develop their capacities and capabilities."
The office is the conduit for defense money and expertise to the
affected communities, but it also serves as the bridge for other
federal agencies, he said.
A number of federal agencies play in the closure and realignment
process. These include Cabinet members like the Department of
Labor, which helps communities with retraining efforts, and the
Department of Commerce, which helps communities attract long-term
economic development and investment.
But there are other helpers too. The Department of the Interior
is often involved in transferring land. The Federal Aviation
Administration is involved in helping communities as they seek
to reuse air bases. Even the Department of Housing and Urban
Development helps communities as they address issues of the
homeless.
The office helps communities also as they work with the military
services. "BRAC does not work if the community and the military
services are not working closely together regardless of growth
or downsizing," O'Brien said.
The office has learned from past BRAC rounds conducted in 1988,
1991, 1993 and 1995. Communities said the first thing they need
is for OEA members to get to the communities as soon as they can
after the defense secretary announces the base realignment and
closure recommendations. "Basically, when the recommendations are
released by the secretary and the communities are ready to receive
us, we're ready to go," O'Brien said.
The communities also told the office that representatives need to
be realistic. "Communities said people told them that BRAC is an
easy process to work through: It is anything but," he said.
"Communities view (the Office of Economic Adjustment) as an honest
broker in the process," and they count on the office to deliver a
realistic appraisal of what lies ahead for affected communities.
Finally, the communities said they needed more support in looking
at the environmental situations at the bases.
The most important thing O'Brien said he learned over the past four
BRAC rounds is that communities span the range of capabilities.
"Some communities have little capacity and require a lot of
assistance, and other communities are very sophisticated and they
are looking for a different menu of support," he said. The office,
working with the military departments, must tailor approaches to
the communities. There is no "one-size fits all" in the BRAC
process, O'Brien noted.
By Jim Garamone
WASHINGTON, May 11, 2005 - Speed and agreement are essential as communities
face base closure and realignment, a senior defense official said here.
Patrick O'Brien, director of the Office of Economic Adjustment, said DoD
stands ready to help communities affected by closures and realignments.
In a recent interview, O'Brien gave some hints what affected communities
can do.
"The first building block is to sit down and identify all the jurisdictions
affected by that action," he said.
This is not as easy as it may seem, he said. Many times installations are
not neatly placed within one jurisdiction. "They transcend jurisdictional
bounds - they can be cities, cities and towns, cities and counties, or even
regional," he said. In some cases a base is in one state, and much of the
work force lives in another state.
The affected community needs to identify all the communities early in the
process and then meet with them. The group needs to discuss the ramifications
of the BRAC action and agree to what needs to be done, he said. "Once you get
your arms around these particular jurisdictions, you have to start thinking
about how do you start working together to speak with one voice," he said.
Communities must get over the up-front emotions and start working to fashion
long-term solutions, O'Brien said.
If a base is closing, just vacating the property can have an immediate impact,
said O'Brien, a member of DoD's senior executive service who has worked on all
the previous BRAC rounds. Schools, as well as the housing market, will be
affected. The housing market in the area will also be hit. Road and other
infrastructure projects may have to be changed.
But none of this will work if each community has a different set of priorities.
"This won't succeed unless you have the political and financial backing locally,"
O'Brien said. "Normally that comes about only because you have brought in the
key public and the key private-sector individuals to work with you."
And O'Brien's office is ready to help as soon as the communities want. "What I
encourage local officials to do is to review the recommendations," he said.
"There will be a period of adjustment."
Communities can "dual-track" this process, he said. In other words, they can
argue to overturn the recommendation with the commission but also work with
the department on reuse in case they lose their appeal. "(The communities
should) give us a call, and we will come out and work with them," he said.
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 10, 2005 - The 2005 base realignment and closure process
will set the stage for the military well into the future, Defense
Department officials said here today.
Officials said this is the best chance the department will have to reset
the force to meet the challenges of the 21st century. "We don't know
where the next threat will come from, but we know one will come, and we
must be ready," said a senior DoD official.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's recommendations for base closure
and realignment are due to the nine-member BRAC commission "not later
than" May 16.
The BRAC process will allow DoD to "rationalize" its infrastructure to
match what planners believe will be the force structure for the future,
said Michael W. Wynne, undersecretary for acquisition, technology and
logistics, during a Pentagon briefing. The changes, he said, will allow
DoD to put in place the infrastructure needed to continue the
transformation process.
"We tried to think about how to maximize joint utilization," Wynne said.
This will allow the services to better share resources and improve
efficiency, he said. It will also allow the services to facilitate joint
operations and joint training.
Finally, the process will "convert waste to warfighting," Wynne said,
noting that resources now devoted to maintaining capabilities no longer
needed take money away "from the tip of the spear."
Philip W. Grone, deputy undersecretary for installations and environment,
agreed with Wynne's assessment. In the four previous BRAC rounds - 1988,
1991, 1993 and 1995 - the department went through 97 major closings, 55
major restructurings and 235 "minor actions." The net savings through
fiscal 2001 was about $18 billion. The yearly saving since 2001 is $7.3
billion.
Grone went over the timeline for the process. He said Rumsfeld must
present his recommendations to the BRAC Commission no later than May 16.
The commission - chaired by former Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony
Principi - will hold hearings and visit installations through September.
At that point, they will turn their recommendations over to President
Bush for his review and approval, Grone said. The list has an "all or
nothing" provision. The president must accept or reject the list in
total. If he approves, the process moves to Congress.
If the president disagrees with portions of the list, he can return it
once to the commission. He may include specific recommendations. The
commission can take the list and "change it or not. It's up to them,"
Grone said, and then return it to the president. If the president still
disagrees, the process ends. No president has disapproved a BRAC list.
In Congress, it is still an all-or-nothing effort, Grone explained.
Congress can disapprove the list or do nothing, and after 45 days the
list becomes law. If all goes well, DoD can begin implementing the law
sometime in December, he said.
There are a couple of changes in the process from previous BRAC rounds.
First, the recommendations of joint cross-service groups - looking at
common functions across the services - have been part of the process.
In the past, joint teams could only advise the services.
Military value is the primary consideration for base closure and
realignment, but Congress specifically ordered DoD officials to
consider surge capabilities in their deliberations, officials said.
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 5, 2005 - Base realignment and closure commissioners heard
about the strategic underpinnings of the Defense Department's approach
during May 4 testimony.
Ryan Henry, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, spoke to
the panel about the National Defense Strategy, the upcoming Quadrennial
Defense Review and the Global Defense Posture.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is using these strategies as the bases
for closing and realigning defense installations. He must present his
recommendations to the commissioners not later than May 16.
Henry told the commission - chaired by former Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Anthony Principi - that the most current DoD strategy contains the lessons
learned from the global war on terrorism. The BRAC process requires that
military value will be the most important criterion in closing or
realigning bases. Henry said he hoped his testimony would help the
commissioners understand "the way that we understand what best military
value is, the way we want to use military activities and the way we want
to employ the force to be able to provide for national security."
He said the old days of knowing the enemy were over. He told the
commissioners there is a limit to intelligence. "We cannot tell what the
future will bring," Henry said. "In the next decade, we will need to use
our forces somewhere, but we cannot say with any certainty where, when or
how they might be needed."
Developing capabilities, therefore, is more important than numbers of
troops, tanks, ships or planes, he said.
Henry said the U.S. military must be able to move more quickly and
operate with greater flexibility when it arrives in a region. He also
said that a basis to the new strategy is the United States realizes it
must do these operations in partnership with other nations. A big part
of the effort, then, is to build the capacity and capabilities of others.
He said the National Defense Strategy remains to secure the U.S. from
direct attack. He also said that it includes gaining strategic access to
key areas and to have freedom of action within those areas.
Portions of the old strategy - last published in 2001 - are unchanged.
This includes assuring friends the United States is a credible ally;
dissuading those who harbor ambitions to confront the United States; and
deterring potential adversaries.
Finally, if needed, the United States must be ready to "defeat any
adversary at a time, place and manner of our choosing," Henry noted.
He said the challenge of the Quadrennial Defense Review - which will be
published in February 2006 - is to balance between the new capabilities
the U.S. military would like to have against the old capabilities that
America would like to maintain.
He told the BRAC commissioners that their work will allow the U.S. to
set its military house in order. Their mission will allow the military
to better use American taxpayers money and let the military serve in a
more joint environment, he said.
The Global Posture Review also plays a role in the commission's
processes. The U.S. military will bring back two divisions from Europe
and most of a division from South Korea. All told, this means 70,000
soldiers and more than 100,000 family members and contractors will be
returning to the United States. Where these personnel will go depends
in large part on the commissioners' decisions, Henry said. "How we
realign overseas will affect how we are based back home," said he
explained.
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 5, 2005 The U.S. military fighting the war on terrorism
is far different from the military forces developed to confront the Soviet
Union.
Today's military is smaller than the Cold War force. It is already more
agile and more flexible. And experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan show that
joint operations enable the military to focus more power, more quickly
exactly where it is needed.
The impetus to change will increase in coming years, and the base-
realignment-and-closure process will allow the Defense Department to match
force structure with the necessary capabilities.
The BRAC process is a chance for the department "to get it right, right
now," said a senior defense official. Changes in the global military
posture and the need to reduce overhead have combined to offer the
military the perfect opportunity to rationalize the military
infrastructure to the force structure needed for the future.
The process will also allow the military to improve its efficiency and
place emphasis on joint training and operations. "A primary objective of
BRAC 2005 is to examine and implement opportunities for greater jointness,"
officials said.
The process is meant to allow the secretary and the BRAC commissioners to
look across traditional lines to examine the potential for jointness. In
fact, in the department, the entire decision-making process is joint at
every level, said officials.
There are more than 520,000 DoD-owned facilities worldwide. Some are small
plots of land with radio or radar towers. Others are huge ranges and bases.
All are being looked at to determine how each property fits into the new
force-structure plan.
This force structure plan, together with statutory selection criteria, will
be the basis for all decisions. Developed by the Joint Staff, the plan is
based on the new national security and defense strategies. It looks out 20
years and tries to forecast threats; probable end-strength levels and
anticipated funding levels. The selection criteria were published in the
Federal Register in December 2003 and later modified by Congress. The final
selection criteria are set out in the BRAC statute, which specifies that
"military value" as the primary consideration in making any closure or
realignment decision. Military value is reflected in the first four
selection criteria and includes the current and future capabilities needed
and the impact on operational readiness of a post, base, range or
installation. This includes the impact an installation has on joint
warfighting, joint training and joint readiness.
In addition, military value includes the availability and condition of
land, facilities and associated airspace. Military officials have looked
at training areas that will exercise forces in a variety of climates and
terrains.
Military value also includes a "surge capability" that allows the
department to accommodate mobilization.
Finally, military value includes the cost of operations and manpower
implications.
The remaining criteria consider the extent and timing of potential costs
and savings; the economic impact on existing communities in the vicinity
of military installations; the ability of the infrastructure of
communities to support forces, missions and personnel; and finally, the
environmental impact, including the impact of costs associated with
environmental restoration, waste management and environmental compliance.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's BRAC recommendations are due to be
published not later than May 16. At that point the BRAC Commission, led by
former Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi, will examine the
recommendations. The commission's findings are due to President Bush not
later than Sept. 8.
The president must approve or disapprove the whole list; he cannot agree
with some recommendations and disagree with others.
If he approves the recommendations, the list goes to Congress, where
senators and representatives have 45 "legislative days" to enact a joint
resolution of disapproval. If they do not, then the list has the force of
law.
Under the BRAC statute, actions to close or realign a base must be
initiated within two years of the date the president transmits the BRAC
Commission's recommendations report to Congress and must be completed
within six years of that same date.
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 3, 2005 Few people dispute that the U.S. military has too much
infrastructure to face the threats and opportunities of the 21st century. The
question is: What's the best way to close or realign installations to match
challenges of the new world?
Since 1988, the answer has been the Base Realignment and Closure Commission,
and the BRAC process continues to move ahead with a new round in 2005.
While closing an individual base can be a problem, the process is designed to
be nonpartisan. The first BRAC round came during the Reagan administration.
The second in the first Bush Administration, and the third and fourth were
under President Clinton.
Former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen first proposed the current round
soon after taking office in 1997. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has
been asking for a new round of closures and realignments since taking office
in January 2001.
BRAC is a challenging process. The four previous BRAC rounds -- in 1988, 1991,
1993 and 1995 -- brought about 97 major closures, 55 major realignments and
235 minor actions, according to DoD figures. Overall, closing and realigning
these installations saved American taxpayers around $18 billion though fiscal
2001 and a further $7 billion per year since.
A BRAC report submitted in March 2004 estimated there is 24 percent excess
capacity in DoD.
Civilian and military leaders in the department have stressed that the
military must become more agile and flexible to face the new challenges.
Officials have repeatedly said the BRAC process must be seen as part of a
larger effort to restructure the global footprint of the U.S. military. As
part of this, U.S. bases overseas will close or morph into nonpermanent
installations. Officials estimate the number of troops in Europe will drop
from 100,000 to about 50,000.
In Korea, the number of U.S. forces is already dropping from 34,000. Officials
have not released a final target number for troops on the peninsula.
The BRAC 2005 process builds on lessons learned from past rounds. Essentially,
this year's legislation took previous versions and amended them.
This year's BRAC round was part of the 2002 National Defense Authorization Act.
The process began with a memorandum from Rumsfeld to defense leaders entitled
"Transformation Through Base Realignment and Closure."
By the end of 2003, DoD published the draft selection criteria. In March 2004,
the department submitted the force-structure plan and infrastructure inventory
to Congress. The next month, Congress approved the final selection criteria.
In March 2005, the president nominated the commissioners that will serve on
the BRAC Commission. And this month, Secretary Rumsfeld will send the
department's closure and realignment recommendations to the commission.
This year's BRAC Commission members are former Veterans Affairs Secretary
Anthony Principi, commission chairman; former Nevada Rep. James H. Bilbray;
Philip Coyle, a former DoD director of operational test and evaluation;
retired Navy Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr., a former commander of U.S. Joint
Forces Command; former Utah Rep. James V. Hansen; retired Army Gen. James T.
Hill, former commander of U.S. Southern Command; retired Air Force Gen. Lloyd
"Fig" Newton, former commander of Air Education and Training Command; former
Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner; and retired Air Force Brig. Gen.
Sue Ellen Turner, former director of nursing services in the Office of the
Air Force Surgeon General.
The basic process is simple. The military services and joint cross-service
groups develop closure and realignment recommendations. Military value is
the primary consideration.
The law also mandates that the department use a 20-year force-structure plan
in forming its recommendations.
The services examine each base's "service-unique" function. In a difference
this year, cross-service groups will analyze functions that cross service
lines. For example, all services have warehouses. So a joint group will
analyze warehouse functions for all the services.
The cross-service groups are examining seven functional areas: educational
and training, headquarters and support activities, industrial, intelligence,
medical, supply and storage, and technical.
The most recent previous BRAC round used similar joint-service groups, but
they could not make recommendations to the secretary. This year,
recommendations from the joint groups are considered by the secretary the
same way the services' submissions are.
Rumsfeld will publish his recommendations in the Federal Register no later
than May 16 and will submit his recommendations to the BRAC Commission and
Congress.
Once Rumsfeld submits his recommendations, the commission will hold hearings
and examine the recommendations. The commission process runs through September
2005. The commission sends an "all-or-nothing list" to the president, meaning
the president can approve all of the closures and realignments on the list or
disapprove the entire list. If he approves, the list goes to Congress.
The House and Senate have 45 "legislative days" to disapprove the list. If
they do nothing, the list automatically is approved and has the "force and
effect of law."
By John D. Banusiewicz
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 3, 2005 - The 2005 Base Realignmnent and Closure Commission began
its work here today.
Commission Chairman Anthony J. Principi, former secretary of veterans affairs,
administered the oath of office to the eight commissioners who will evaluate the
Defense Department's recommendations for changes in U.S. force posture.
After evaluating DoD's recommendations, the independent BRAC Commission will
submit its own list to the president for review and approval, then to Congress,
which must accept or reject the list in its entirety.
"The Congress and the president look to this commission to provide an unbiased,
independent assessment and clear 'eye of reality check' on DoD's proposals for
restructuring the base infrastructure supporting our armed forces," Principi
said.
Principi said the commission's work must reflect that while the United States
devotes great resources to its defense, those resources are limited. "Every
dollar consumed in redundant, unnecessary, obsolete, inappropriately designed
or located infrastructure is a dollar not available to provide the training
that might save a Marine's life, purchase the munitions to win a soldier's
firefight, or fund the advances necessary to ensure continued dominance of the
air or the seas."
The commission chairman acknowledged that the BRAC process will affect people.
"The words 'closure' and 'realignment' are easy to write on paper," he said,
"but they do have profound effects on communities and the people who bring
those communities to life. The ripples of the proposals the secretary of
defense will present to our nation and to us will be tsunamis in the
communities they hit." But no decision on closure or realignment will be
arbitrary, he added.
"The Congress, in authorizing the 2005 BRAC, recognized the necessity for
cost-effective operation of our armed forces," Principi said. "The Congress,
in establishing this commission and in setting forth the standards against
which we are charged to measure DoD's proposals, also ensured these decisions
would not be made in a vacuum, and that DoD's proposals and their rationale
and supporting data would be subject to independent analysis and assessment."
DoD must submit its list of recommended closures and realignments to the
commission by May 16, and the commission must send its report to the president
by Sept. 8.
The 2005 BRAC commissioners are:
- Former Nevada Rep. James H. Bilbray, who was a member of House committees on foreign affairs, armed services and intelligence. He served in the Army Reserve from 1955 to 1963.
- Philip Coyle of California, a senior adviser to the Center for Defense Information. He has served at DoD as an assistant secretary of defense and as director of operational test and evaluation.
- Retired Navy Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr., who served more than 35 years on active duty, including duty as NATO's supreme allied commander, Atlantic, and as commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command.
- Former Utah Rep. James V. Hansen, who served on the House Armed Services Committee. He served in the Navy from 1951 to 1955.
- Retired Army Gen. James T. Hill, whose 36-year career culminated with duty as commander of U.S. Southern Command.
- Retired Air Force Gen. Lloyd "Fig" Newton, who served in uniform for 34 years, culminating as commander of Air Education and Training Command.
- Samuel Knox Skinner, who served as President George H.W. Bush's chief of staff and as secretary of transportation. He served in the Army Reserve from 1960 to 1968.
- Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Sue Ellen Turner of Texas, a member of the American Battle Monuments Commission. She served for 30 years, most recently as the director of nursing services in the Office of the Air Force Surgeon General.
By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 12, 2005 Base Realignment and Closure 2005 is in full swing
and this round is important for many reasons, according to Philip Grone, deputy
undersecretary of defense for installations and environment.
In order to support ongoing force transformation, to improve the joint
utilization of our assets, to convert waste to warfighting all of those things
are important in and of themselves, Grone said in an interview with American
Forces Press Service and the Pentagon Channel on April 11.
But the timing of BRAC for 2005 is also important because it provides a
platform, an opportunity, for us to assess the sites and select the sites for
forces that will return to the United States as a result of the broader global-
force posture realignment that the secretary and the department have undertaken.
DoD uses the process to reorganize its installation infrastructure to most
efficiently support its forces, increase operational readiness and facilitate
new ways of doing business, according to the BRAC Web site. The first BRAC
occurred in 1988, and more followed in 1991, 1993 and 1995.
Congress authorized BRAC 2005 in the fiscal 2002 National Defense Authorization
Act. The selection criteria were published in February 2004. In March of this
year, President Bush appointed the members of an independent BRAC commission.
The next big BRAC deadline is May 16 when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
must make his recommendations for realignments and closures to Congress and the
commission. By Sept. 8, the commission must send its findings to the president,
who has until Sept. 23 to approve or disapprove the commission’s report.
Grone said that initially all installations are considered for closure or
realignment.
By statute all military installations are to be treated equally, he said.
Throughout this process we are assessing all of our installations and functions
and missions in an equal way so that we can have a defensible package of
recommendations to provide to the independent commission.
There are several criteria for selecting a base for BRAC action, but one top
consideration is the installation’s current and future mission capabilities and
the impact on operational readiness of the total force, including the impact on
joint warfighting, training and readiness.
In this round of BRAC, the joint cross-service groups that we have established
have greater breadth (than BRAC 1995), Grone said. So rather than looking at, as
we did in 1995, depot maintenance in this round of BRAC, we’re looking at all the
of the industrial activities of the department on a joint basis.
Medical functions, headquarters and support, education and training, intelligence,
supply and storage are all being assessed from a joint perspective, he said. This
will help provide the most efficient military structure.
Grone noted that jointness is a key aspect of this BRAC. The decision process in
this BRAC is joint from top to bottom in this round of BRAC, he said.
Another important criterion when the commission considers an installation for a
BRAC action is the availability and condition of lands, facilities and associated
airspace both at both existing and potential receiving locations. That
availability also extends to homeland-defense training missions.
Bases chosen for closure or major realignment can expect the process to be
completed within six years from the approval of recommendations. They can also
expect some assistance and guidance from the DOD and interagency partners, Grone
said.
DoD’s Office of Economic Adjustment makes available planning grants and assistance.
Also, Grone said, a series of policy reforms will enhance the DoD’s ability to
move forward to close or realign a base as expeditiously as possible to allow the
economic redevelopment of the areas affected.
All the communities that support our military installations do so very solidly
with a great deal of cooperation and partnership, he said. But as a result of what
we must do to enhance the military mission, it’s inevitable that there will be
some bases, as excess capacity, will no longer be required.
In those circumstances we’re going to work in a very productive way, we trust,
with those local communities working in partnership with them to provide a
foundation for solid economic redevelopment.
By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 16, 2005 - President Bush nominated
eight people March 15 to serve on 2005’s Defense Base
Realignment and Closure Commission.
Their names go to Capitol Hill for Senate confirmation.
The nominees are:
Former Nevada Rep. James H. Bilbray, who was a member of
committees on foreign affairs, armed services and
intelligence. He served in the Army Reserve from 1955 to
1963.
Philip Coyle of California, a senior adviser to the
Center for Defense Information. He has served at DoD as
an assistant secretary of defense and as director of
operational test and evaluation.
Retired Navy Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr. of Virginia. He
served more than 35 years on active duty, and his last
assignment was as NATO’s supreme allied commander,
Atlantic, and as commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command.
Former Utah Rep. James V. Hansen, who served on the House
Armed Services Committee. He servedin the Navy from 1951
to 1955.
Retired Army Gen. James T. Hill of Florida. He served 36
years, and his last assignment was as commander of U.S.
Southern Command.
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Claude M. Kicklighter, assistant
secretary for policy and planning at the Veterans
Affairs Department. He served in the Army for nearly
36 years.
Samuel Knox Skinner of Illinois, who served as
President George H.W. Bush’s chief of staff and as
secretary of transportation. He served in the Army
Reserve from 1960 to 1968.
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Sue Ellen Turner of Texas, a
member of the American Battle Monuments Commission. She
served for 30 years, most recently as the director of
nursing services in the Office of the Air Force Surgeon
General.
Base realignment and closure is the process DoD uses to
reorganize its installation infrastructure. This
reorganization allows more efficient and effective support
of forces as well as a way to increase readiness, officials
said.
Defense officials said DoD’s process will not vary much from
the past BRAC rounds. But this year’s BRAC process includes a
statutory requirement that the military value of an
installation be a primary element of the criteria used in
deciding whether an installation needs to be closed or
realigned.
Military value includes criteria such as bases’ mission
capabilities now and in the future, and space available for
force maneuver. The review will also consider the bases’
ability to accommodate contingency and future force
requirements and will look at the bases’ operations costs and
manpower implications.
The secretary of defense must submit a list of installations
recommended for closure or realignment to Congress and the
BRAC commission by May 16. By Sept. 8, the commission must
send its recommended BRAC list to the president, who has till
Sept. 23 to approve or disapprove the findings.
By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 10, 2005 - As the next round of base realignment
and closure looms on the horizon, the Office of Economic Adjustment
stands ready to assist affected communities.
The office’s role, said Patrick O’Brien, OEA director, is to help
communities affected by Defense Department program changes. That
assistance comes in the form of helping communities envision a
strategy for positively weathering the changes.
Our office is expected to go out (and) work with the affected
jurisdiction or jurisdictions and, in essence, assist them to
plan and carry out adjustment strategies in response to the
program actions of the department, O’Brien said.
OEA has project managers who go out and become part of the fabric
of the affected communities, O’Brien said. They get to know the
needs and desires of the community. Once the issues are identified,
they then work to bring the community together to begin to address
the changes it’s facing, he explained.
O’Brien said getting project managers into the field to assess needs
is critical to a smooth transition through BRAC.
Success is dependent on partnering, he said, partnering with the
military department that may be undertaking the action locally,
partnering with other public sources. You have states that have a
tremendous amount of talent and resources and expertise. You have
other regional and local governmental entities that should be
brought to the table.
But because the impact of a realignment or closure sometimes is
bigger than the public sector can handle itself, he said, the
private sector also should be involved in transition planning.
While OEA has helped communities plan BRAC transitions for years,
O’Brien said, the process never is routine. He acknowledged that
no two communities are the same, so the response must be tailored
to each community.
And though OEA’s response to a BRAC announcement is quick, the
organization stays out of the decisionmaking on BRAC or any other
DoD program changes, the director said. His office’s job does not
start until after DoD announces that a change will be made.
Once the decision is made to close or realign a base, our office
will immediately be available to sit down with the affected
jurisdiction and tailor a program to be responsive to the
situation, O’Brien said. We feel that it’s very important that
this process be community based -- that the affected
jurisdictions have to decide how their backyards are going to be
used.
How long OEA maintains a partnership with a community depends on
the amount of impact BRAC has, the director noted. Communities
suffering a greater impact, he explained, may require assistance
for five to seven years. Those less affected may need help for
only two or three years.
With transformation under way and citing its effect on the U.S.
military’s European footprint, O’Brien said that this time
around OEA may be helping communities deal with base growth, as
some units now based overseas are brought back to the United
States.
But regardless of whether BRAC causes loss or growth, O’Brien
said, when the list is announced in May 2005, OEA will find
itself again upholding its motto: Helping Communities Help
Themselves.
Page One
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