Defense secretary will press for base closures

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, July 25, 2001

By Carolyn Skorneck

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told a dozen Republican senators that he is determined to press for a round of base closings to save money but no particular facilities have been targeted yet.

“He said he doesn’t look forward to getting up in the morning and taking this on,” said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., recounting the conversation with Rumsfeld. “The fact is we are overbased, draining too many resources from our Defense Department.”

Base closings strike fear in the hearts of many lawmakers, because at least in the short run, the impact can be devastating to a community.

Rumsfeld assured the senators that “there were no predetermined locations or bases that have been identified to close down,” Hagel said in an interview.

In past base-closing rounds, an independent panel decided what facilities to shutter, and Congress was limited to an up-or-down vote on the whole list.

President Bush has said about 25 percent of the nation’s military facilities are not needed, and closing them could save the government money. But he has not yet sent legislation to Congress seeking a new round of closures.

“We don’t have that legislation quite done,” Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said today at the Pentagon. “The goal is to get it submitted to the Congress before the August recess,” which is scheduled to begin Aug. 6.

Rumsfeld told the senators he wanted to find a way to close bases “that doesn’t require every military installation to go out and hire a consultant” to fight off a potential closure, said Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., chairman of the Republican Conference.

“Some things that clearly aren’t going to be on the table shouldn’t be put on the table just for the sake of making consultants rich,” Santorum said today.

Rumsfeld’s remarks came during a wide-ranging meeting Wednesday in the office of Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. Lott originally called the 1 1/2hour meeting so Rumsfeld could meet with GOP leaders and military hawks who rarely see him.

Among the issues discussed was a request for an extra $18.4 billion for next year’s defense budget, for a total of $328.9 billion.

The subject turned to base closings because of comments by the deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment.

Raymond DuBois was cited in Wednesday’s USA Today as saying some operations could be transferred out of the Southeast, where increased civilian aircraft and suburban sprawl are becoming hindrances, and some of the 150 military operations in the Norfolk, Va., area probably would be eliminated.

Sen. John Warner, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee and a Virginian, said he was “dumbfounded” by the comments and said they could undermine congressional confidence essential to approving more base closures.

Rumsfeld told the senators that the comments were “a mistake. He has rectified it. It will not happen again,” said Warner.

Although he did not quite offer an apology, Warner said, “This was not a meeting, by any stretch of the imagination, of taking Rumsfeld to the woodshed in front of a dozen senators.”

Warner, who says only 15 percent to 18 percent of military installations are unneeded, said all members of Congress must “go on full alert” to persuade a base closing commission that their facilities should remain open.

Republicans contend President Clinton played politics with the last round in 1995, calling for privatizing civilian jobs at two Air Force bases in vote-rich California and Texas to ease the economic impact.

Any new legislation would tighten the language so that once a base-closing list is approved, “We’re not going to allow the president or anyone else to come in and jiggle around with it or change it,” Warner said.

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