BRAC e-mail story deemed a hoax

  • Published
  • By Tech Sgt. David A. Jablonski
  • Air Force Print News
WASHINGTON --  An e-mail hoax has been circulating through inboxes. The e-mail contains a spoofed Air Force Print News story about proposed base realignment and closure actions allegedly affecting all services.

Air Force public affairs officials were alerted to the hoax by a military officers’ association in California. The e-mail takes a legitimate Air Force Print News story titled “Air Force releases 2004 realignments,” published July 23, and adds a fake list of Department of Defense installations for “closure or realignment.”

Officials immediately dismissed the e-mail as a hoax, citing that the ongoing BRAC process is nowhere near complete.

They have not made any assessments, decisions or recommendations for closures and realignments to the BRAC Commission, according to Nelson Gibbs. He is the assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics.

As part of the budget justification, defense officials must submit a number of reports and certifications to justify the need for the BRAC 2005 round, Gibbs said.

“This will occur in the February 2004 time frame,” Gibbs said. “As such, recommendations (now) would be premature and not in accordance with the requirements of the BRAC law.”

The law establishes procedures that must be followed step by step to develop information, studies, plans and reports needed for such recommendations, he said.

“While we have done much, we are still in the early stages of the formal BRAC process,” Gibbs said.

The Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act prescribes a sequential process officials must follow before they can legally make recommendations for potential closures and realignments of military installations.

DOD officials must submit a force-structure plan based upon an assessment of probable threats to national security through the 20-year period beginning with Oct. 1. The plan includes probable end-strength levels and major military-force units needed to meet these threats. Units include Air Force wings, Army divisions and Navy carrier and major combatant vessels.

Officials must also submit an installation inventory to comprehensively list the number and categories of military installations worldwide, both by military department and by active and reserve forces.

The secretary must further submit a description of the inventory necessary to support the force-structure plan. The description also includes excess infrastructure and infrastructure capacity, and an economic analysis of the effect of potential closures and realignments.

If the secretary determines a further round of BRAC is needed, he must certify that an additional round will result in annual net savings for each military department beginning no later than fiscal 2011.

On a parallel track, BRAC law also requires by Dec. 31 the secretary to propose for public review and comment the selection criteria DOD plans on using to make recommendations.

The criteria must at least include:

-- Military value as the primary consideration.

-- Extent and timing of potential costs and savings.

-- Economic analysis of the impact on local communities.

-- Ability of community infrastructure to support current and expanded missions.

-- Impact of specified environmental costs.

Department officials must finalize the criteria by Feb. 16 and publish them in the Federal Register.

Questionnaires used to obtain the base data will be adjusted for service-unique functions and common business-oriented functions.

Services’ and joint cross-service groups’ representatives will then assess the data and make recommendations to the secretary of defense. He then makes an independent review and assessment. The secretary must send his recommendations to the BRAC Commission and Congress by May 16, 2005.

Through this process, each base will be treated fairly and equally, according to Gibbs.