BRAC panel begins final deliberations

  • Published
  • By Donna Miles
  • American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  The Base Realignment and Closure Commission generally supported the Defense Department's recommendations Aug. 24 as the panel began its final four days of deliberations.

The panel met in Arlington, Va., to begin voting on DOD's proposal to reshape the military infrastructure and eliminate excess by closing 33 major bases and realigning 29 others. Officials emphasized that the votes are not considered final until the commission finishes its deliberations Aug. 27.

After its final vote, the panel will send the final report to President Bush by Sept. 8. The president, if he concurs, will send the final list to Congress, which can accept or reject it in its entirety, but not change it.

Today's session follows months of hearings around the country regarding DOD's plan that defense officials said will save about $49 billion over the next 20 years.

Some BRAC commissioners have challenged the department's projected cost savings, as well as the military justification for some recommendations. The panel voted July 19 to add several military installations to a list being considered for closure during hearings in Washington. DOD had recommended one of those bases, Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine, for realignment, but not closure.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld defended DOD's BRAC recommendations during an Aug. 23 Pentagon news briefing and urged commissioners against going too far in changing them.

"I feel that we made very solid recommendations," the secretary said. "I suspect the commission, when all is said and done, will endorse the overwhelming majority of these recommendations."

Secretary Rumsfeld called the plan an opportunity to "reset our force" to make it more efficient and cost-effective. The recommendations "didn't come out of mid-air," he said, but followed two-and-a-half years of study and review that were free of political motivations. "There wasn't an ounce of politics in any aspect of it," he said.