The proposed removal of a Northwest air-defense unit from Portland, Ore., is beyond the scope of an independent panel studying closure of military bases, a top National Guard official said Monday.
The head of a U.S. National Guard commander association said the majority of the recommendations made by the U.S. Air Force for closure or realignment are “outside the charter” of the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission.
The commission is the independent panel studying Pentagon recommendations to close 33 major bases and make hundreds of other adjustments.
Among those adjustments are changes to National Guard units, which have riled public officials across the nation.
All of Washington’s congressional delegation joined Oregon’s officials last month speaking out against yanking the 142nd Fighter Wing based at Portland International Airport.
The air wing, and a support air-refueling squadron also based at the airport, is the only combat-ready air defense for the entire Northwest.
The 15 Portland F-15 fighters would be dispatched to Louisiana and New Jersey to augment squadrons there, under the Pentagon plan. Their departure leaves the Northwest without ready air defense in case of an emergency, such as the Sept. 11, 2001, airplaner hijackings by terrorists.
In Pennsylvania, the governor this month filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court alleging that the Constitution and federal law prevent removing National Guard units without the governor’s permission.
A similar lawsuit was being contemplated in Illinois.
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who led the state’s delegation push to keep the F-15s in Portland, said the Air Force didn’t consult with the states before making its Guard recommendations.
“It seems clear to me that the Pentagon put forth a plan without doing the necessary fact checking,” Cantwell said.
“The Pentagon’s top priority should be our nation’s defense, and even the top generals of the Air National Guard seem to be saying that the Pentagon overlooked some things when it proposed the plan,” Cantwell added.
On Monday, Maj. Gen. Roger Lempke, president of the U.S. Adjutants General Association, sent a letter to the chairman of the base-closing panel, Anthony Principi. The letter followed a meeting Friday in Washington, D.C., where all of the adjutants general of the states and two territories gathered to discuss the proposed base closures and other changes.
Lempke, of Nebraska, quoted a closure panel’s own lawyer, who questioned the legality of forcing National Guard closures or realignments through the base-closing process.
It would be “improper” for the commission to act on the proposed closing of 14 Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units and realignment of 47 others around the country, Lempke said.
He suggested that state military officials, governors and the Air Force can work out “these operational decisions” short of base-closing commission action. He said that work already has begun.
He called for maintaining Air National Guard flying units in every state, and air refueling and tactical airlift mission available to the governors for homeland defense and other emergencies.
Lempke also wants to make sure all regions of the country are protected.
The base-closing panel is scheduled to make its recommendation to President Bush in September.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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