05.31.05

Cantwell Asks for Clarity from Pentagon on Proposed McChord Realignment Plan

Air Force E-mail to Cantwell's Office Suggests McChord Air Force Base Could Lose More Than 70 People Than Originally Stated in BRAC Draft Closure List Two BRAC Commissioners Visited McChord Last Week With No Details on Plan

Tacoma, WA – Today U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell sent a letter to the Pentagon asking for details on the proposed realignment plan for McChord Air Force Base. Cantwell sent the letter following a meeting with the Tacoma/Pierce County Base Realignment Closure Commission (BRAC) Citizens' Committee where concerns about the lack of details in the BRAC Commission's plan were discussed.

The meeting was organized after Cantwell's office received an email from the U.S. Air Force suggesting that McChord Air Force Base could lose up to seventy more personnel than what is listed in the draft BRAC report. The draft report has McChord slated to lose 567 personnel. An email to Cantwell's office lists a personnel loss of 629 for the base. No explanation was offered for the discrepancy.

"I support any effort to make our military stronger and even more efficient," Cantwell commented. "Any changes made to our military installations should be focused on strengthening our national defense capabilities. We need more information to know if these proposed changes will help us do that."

Two BRAC Commissioners, James Bilbray and Phillip Coyle, visited McChord Air Force base last week on Wednesday, May 25 th , because the BRAC process requires at least two commissioners to visit any base that is slated to lose more than 300 people.

The purpose of these visits is to ensure accuracy in the Secretary of Defense's recommendations and the information on which those recommendations are based. The commissioners did not have details or data justifying the proposed realignment plan, which jeopardizes their ability to make decisions relating to the BRAC process.

Three Washington bases were slated for realignment. McChord Air Force Base would lose 567 total personnel, 169 of which belong to a medical unit slated to move to Fort Lewis, according to the draft report. Fairchild Air Force Base was recommended to lose 198 total personnel, including the fleet of eight KC-135R tankers to Iowa. Also at Fairchild, the 141 st Air National Guard unit will now be associated with the 92 nd Air Refueling Wing. Submarine Base Bangor would lose 1 civilian position.

McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis play a pivotal role in the Pierce County economy. Almost 35,000 uniformed and civilian military employees live in Pierce County, pumping $1.8 billion of payrolls into the local economy. If you also consider indirect impact, such as civilian, off-base retailers, county residents are the beneficiaries of almost 75,000 jobs, creating $2.8 billion in payroll.

While recommending base closures, the Pentagon is supposed to consider the current efficiency and uses of the base, plus whether expansion is possible should a future need arise. Other criteria include total saved costs, economic impact on communities near each base, and the environmental costs associated with converting a closed base to civilian property.

Congress established the BRAC process in response to the end of the Cold War, and the changing needs of the military. It sought to cut costs and increase efficiency by shifting the military's resources.

A nine-member commission, named this past March, will now have until September 8 to present a revised list to the President. In order for the commission to add a base to the list, a supermajority vote (seven of nine) from the commission is required. Only a simple majority – five of nine – is required to remove a base from the list.

The President has until September 23 to approve the list in full and send to Congress, or disapprove of the list and return it to the commission. If the President returns the list, the commission has until October 20 to submit a new list to the President, who must certify it and send to Congress by November 7.

If Congress, after receiving the list from President, does not reject it within 45 days, the list becomes law.

Text of Cantwell's letter to the Pentagon is as follows:

May 31, 2005

The Honorable Donald Rumsfeld

Secretary of Defense

The Department of Defense

The Pentagon

Washington, DC 20301

Dear Secretary Rumsfeld,

First, allow me to thank you for your steadfast work in making the tough decisions required in implementing the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round. A periodic review of our defense assets is required to ensure that our military is able to adequately adapt to ever-changing security challenges, and to help make certain that we are operating our military as efficiently as possible. I believe that the decision making process that led to your list of recommended base closures and realignments makes important steps towards making our military better able to efficiently respond to evolving security threats around the world.

However, I recently became aware of an issue with regard to the proposed creation of Joint Base Lewis-McChord that needs to be addressed. As you are aware, on May 13, 2005, your released the list of proposed staff changes, cutting 567 positions at McChord Air Force Base. Last week, my office received an email from the Air Force listing the job reductions related to the realignment at McChord would total 629.

The supporting information related to your closure and realignment recommendations provides relatively few specifics on where the job reductions will come from and how the proposed McChord/Ft. Lewis joint basing initiative should be implemented to best combine the important military missions of both bases. The difference in the job loss numbers combined with this lack of specificity has left everyone interested in the BRAC process, including the Commissioners who visited McChord last week, without the information necessary to make specific recommendations. Furthermore, the difference in the job reduction numbers has concerned members of the communities surrounding McChord about the information that served as the genesis of your base closure and realignment recommendations.

Specifically, I would appreciate your response to the following questions:

Can you explain to me the difference in the job loss numbers published within your closure and realignment recommendations released on May 13 and those provided to my office in an email from the Department of Defense last week? Can you please clarify the actual recommended number of job reductions related to McChord within the joint basing initiative and how that number was derived? Can you assure me that the efficiencies, community impacts, and other data estimated in your closure and realignment recommendations are accurate to the actual job reduction numbers, whatever the accurate figure is? Can you provide any more specifics on where the job reductions at McChord will come from? The BRAC report enumerates a transfer of the military medical personnel from McChord to Ft. Lewis but lacks needed specifics related to the majority of other recommended job reductions. Finally, how will this information be released to the public so interested members of the community can be adequately prepared for regional hearings of the BRAC Commission, including our nearest regional hearing scheduled for June 17 in Portland, Oregon? I thank you in advance for your rapid response to these questions. The information requested will help all of us implement this round of base closure and realignment in the best way possible to ensure that we are creating a military better positioned to meet present and future security threats in the most efficient way possible. I look forward to working with as the base closure and realignment process progresses.

Maria Cantwell

United States Senator

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