The Defense Department has released its proposed list of installations and bases to close, and if you don;t remember what this was like ten years ago, get ready for some hysterics:
The Pentagon will propose shutting 150 military installations from Maine to Hawaii, including 33 major bases, The Associated Press learned Friday, triggering the first round of base closures in a decade and an intense struggle by communities to save their facilities.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld will also recommend a list of scores of other domestic bases from which thousands of troops would be withdrawn, or in some cases added from other installations in the United States or overseas. He has said the move would save $48.8 billion over 20 years while making the military more mobile and better suited for the global effort against terrorism.
Rumsfeld’s plan calls for a massive shift of U.S. forces that would result in a net loss of 29,005 military and civilian jobs at domestic installations. Overall, he proposes pulling 218,570 military and civilian positions out of some U.S. bases while adding 189,565 positions to others, according to documents obtained by The AP.
West Virginia came off pretty light, losing the Bias U.S. Army Reserve Center in Huntington, the Fairmont U.S. Army Reserve Center, and the Navy-Marine Corps Reserve Center in Moundsville. The last one strikes a little close to home, as that was home to a bunch of my buddies who were in the Marine Corps when I was also in the National Guard in Moundsville. Oh, well.
At any rate, the hysterics have already begun here, with Sen. Byrd leading the charge. I just heard him on the radio with Hoppy Kercheval, and he spared no time bringing out the rhetorical big gun. He accused the administration of abandoning the troops, of disregarding their rights, and whole host of other nonsense. The administration, for the most part, has really nothing to do with this, and neither, really, does Congress.
If you are wondering why they have nothing to do with it, the short answer is that they are cowards. Come to think of it, that really should suffice as the long answer. Basically, in the past few decades, Congress has moved more towards delegating elsewhere the decision-making for de-distributive policies, meaning, spreading the blame around for their cowardice. Some call it “evasive delegation.”
At any rate, in 1988 BRACC was formed because Congress, for over a decade, had refused to enact any of the base closures that the Pentagon was asking for. It was too unpopular, they couldn’t deal with the political pressure, and they did not want to, in essence, do their job. So they passed it off on someone else while maximizing their capacity to demagogue the issue.
This isn’t the only time they have done this sort of thing, and there are other examples, including Gramm-Rudman-Hollings, aka the “Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985,” which kicked in automatic budget cuts if Congress itself did not have the political will.
At any rate, the outcome of BRACC is that the hard decisions Congress should make are pushed off on someone else, but congresscritters get to run around and fight valiantly for their constituents, employing all sorts of inflammatory rhetoric and appearing like a white knight riding to the rescue of the poor down-trodden citizens. Which is why Byrd was just on the radio making the statements he made, and why Joe Lieberman was just on television telling us he is ready to “Go to battle” to save the Naval submarine base in Groton.
It is also why the procedure works the way it does, though previous incarnations of BRACC were different. Now that the Pentagon has made their proposals, this will be studied by the commission who will then make the decisions what institutions are included. When BRACC is done with their list, it is forwarded to Congress.
But, you say- doesn’t Congress then have authority to change the list? The answer is, not really, and this is where the spinelessness approaches new heights. The list, as forwarded by BRACC, can either be approved or disapproved, but it can not be altered. In other words, they have to approve the ENTIRE list, and Congress can not add or remove specific installations.
Which makes the inevitable battle cries from Congressmen and Senators in the next few weeks even more hysterical (and now I mean in the funny sense). The spinelessness of it all is sickening, but such is life with modern politicans. If you want an excellent primer on this isue, I would recommend this outstanding 1998 dissertation by Dr. Lilly Goren. I believe academics can get this free through their Electronic Dissertation thingy with their respective libraries.
A quick note- I mentioned Byrd and Lieberman by name, but I am in no way singling out Democrats. Byrd is my senator, so that is the media coverage I heard immediately. Lieberman just happened to be on MSNBC as I was typing this. This will be bi-partisan tomfoolery, with politicans on both sides of the aisle launching salvos. I can’t wait to watch Sen. Thune work his way out of his campaign assurance to keep Ellsworth Air Force Base, the largest employer in South Dakota, which is now on the chopping block. When it comes to dedistributive policy decisons, all politicans are shrill when it is their constituency losing money.
*** Update ***
Several quick things to keep in mind when you hear politicans shrieking incoherently over the next few months, and one more bit of food for thought:
1.) The only thing that should be kept in mind when making military decisions should be:
“Will this make the military stronger?”
If it does not make a soldier/sailor/airman/marine shoot, move, or communicate better, your argument should be ignored. These realignments and consolidations make deployment easier, and allow assets to be used for other vital functions, so whining about economic impact will fall on deaf ears at this website.
2.) This, in the grand scheme of things, is chump change. Savings of two billion a year out of a close to 400 billion budget is one half of one per cent of total military spending.
3.) I do worry that closing all small depots, armories, and bases can have a negative impact in the sense that it could detach the military from the public as a whole. In general, I thought it was good from a public relations and recruitment standpoint to have the community in Moundsville interacting with the Marines stationed there.
la
My brother in laww works for the Defense Department. He says Rummy tries to get rid of direct employment by the military and send it all to private contractors who can raid the kitty with more impunity than direct govt. employees can. This won’t save any money at all.
Libertine
Connecticut gets hit hard again. Last year Sikorsky lost the “Marine One” Presidential helicopter contract to Lockheed-Martin. Sikorsky used all american made compnents while Lockheed uses parts from countries like Italy…
Now the Naval Sub Base in Groton is on the latest closure list. It makes no sense. In the past decade the Navy has spent hundreds of millions of dollars building the sub training school as part of the base and now they are going to close the whole base down. Talk about a waste of taxpayer money. And it is going to devastate the small state of Connecticut’s economy. There will be 7,900 military jobs lost and close to 1,000 civilian jobs. Take into account additional jobs lost at sub maker Electric Boat and Connecticut gets ravaged.
Along with the Groton closure, Otis AFB (Cape Cod), Westover AFB (western Mass), and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (NH) are all being closed. Do us a favor…since we are not worthy of having the military protect us up here if we go get attacked send us up some m-16’s and ammo so we can protect ourselves at least, lol!!!
Closing Groton what a f’ing joke!!! Between Sikorsky and now this I am getting the feeling someone in Washington don’t like the state of Connecticut…I guess payback is a bitch.
Libertine
And not only was Lieberman fuming but so was Gov. Jodi Rell (R), Sen. Dodd (D), and Rep. Simmons (R) of the 2nd District where the base is located. Mr. Simmons was so mad he was visibly shaking. Also Senators Reed and Chafee of Rhode Island weren’t happy because the Groton closing will hurt their state too.
Closing the bases they did up herein our small states was like shutting down a dozen bases in a state like Texas.
Kimmitt
The idea that the base closings aren’t political payback has never even occurred to me.
Libertine
Just for the record the State of Connecticut was losing the 2nd most amount of jobs, only behind Maryland. The biggest losers in realignment were Connecticut and Maine. The biggest winners were Georgia and Texas. Connecticut the 2nd smallest state in the union lost the 2nd most in terms of raw numbers. It seems like the big winners are the “red states” as the Connecticut operations will be moved to Viginia and Georgia.
I can see if everyone shared in the loss, but it seems there were places who actually had an increase in military operations. And be so severely targeting small states (either in terms of population or size) like Maine, Connecticut and Maryland is grossly unfair, punitive and capricious.
Libertine
The idea that the base closings aren’t political payback has never even occurred to me.
I’d like to think (and did in the past) that the process would be based purely on military considerations Kimmitt but obviously that is not the case.
The US Navy invested $300 million in the Submarine Training School at the Groton/New London base less then 10 years ago. I can’t figure out why that money was spent on the base if there were military plans to shut it.
Like I said before…what a f’ing joke!!!
Libertine
If the Sub base is closed maybe all residents of the State of Connecticut should refuse to pay the Federal taxes for 2005. What is Bush gonna do then? Arrest all the people of Connecticut?
Message from Connecticut to Washington DC…
UP YOURS BABY!!!
Rick
Libertine,
You go first.
Cordially…
Brenda
I also can’t wait to see Sen. Thune work his way out of this one. Ellsworth AFB is the 2nd largest employer in the state of South Dakota. Funds have already been cut severly for education and employment and if the base closes there will be no money to train all that are displaced. Can you believe that over 1/2 of the state could be stupid enough to vote for Thune just because he said he would be able to save Ellsworth??? They got rid of the Daschle for that???? Sure hope that if ellsworth closes they have other ways to protect Mt. Rushmore., but I’m sure Bush dosn’t care since his head nor his fathers are up there.
Kimmitt
Well, it is a Red state, after all. There’s only so much that can be expected.
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