Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

WASHINGTON – Buckle up. The Pentagon is launching a new round of military base closings that could sweep through Texas like a dark spring storm.

Facing a May 16 deadline, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to announce by week's end the Pentagon's plan to trim its "excess capacity" by closing, cutting or otherwise realigning military facilities throughout the country.

In Texas, at least four major military installations are on the line: the Red River Army Depot outside Texarkana, Goodfellow Air Force Base near San Angelo, Brooks City-Base in San Antonio and Naval Station Ingleside near Corpus Christi.

The Pentagon's list will go first to a newly seated, nine-member commission for review and revision over the next four months, then on to President Bush and, eventually, to Congress.

It's the fifth round in a base-closing process designed to skirt the inevitable political cry in Congress: Don't mess with the military bases in my district, in my state. They're essential to the economy.

It's an emotional, political endeavor involving a wide swath of America that hosts the military.
Even as the commission was organizing last week, its meeting room on Capitol Hill was crammed with lobbyists, civic leaders and reporters – all sizing up chairman Anthony Principi, the former veterans affairs secretary, and his eight fellow commissioners.

"We will be the face," Mr. Principi said afterward, having already predicted bluntly the process would rip through some communities like a tsunami.

"The words 'closure' and 'realignment' are easy to write on paper," he said at the start of the meeting, "but they do have profound effects on communities and the people who bring those communities to life."

Possibly affecting the Texas decisions are the thousands of U.S. ground troops from Europe and other places around the world that are returning to Fort Hood, outside Killeen, and Fort Bliss, near El Paso.

So, the base watchers note, it's possible the Lone Star State, long a magnet for the military, could take some hits and still gain personnel. At best, that scenario is a fallback position. Those communities with military bases facing the chopping block are going all out to stave off closure.

"Don't even say that word," said Lucy Reta, fielding a base closing inquiry at the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce.
Nearly 4,000 military and civilian personnel are based at Ingleside, and its closure would be a gut-wrenching blow to the region. It would be no better in any of the other communities under the Pentagon's ax.

"We're busy fighting," said Chris Paulitz, a spokesman for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who's been rallying support for Texas bases. The state's other Republican senator, John Cornyn, is also on watch, along with other members of the state's congressional delegation facing military cuts.

In Austin, Gov. Rick Perry has mounted a save-the-bases campaign as well, in part to compete with similar, entrenched campaigns in other states.

In this round, the Pentagon is as eager to streamline its military facilities as it is to shutter some of them. In the military transformation that Mr. Rumsfeld has embarked on to better respond to the hotspots in the international war against terrorism, the watchwords are consolidation, realignment, cross-service use – and full use.

At the Red River Army Depot, community officials are hopeful that the stepped-up armoring of military vehicles for Iraq will be enough for the Pentagon to give that depot a pass.

"We're cautiously optimistic," said Jerry Sparks, who's working the issue for the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce. "Our goal is not to get on the list in the first place."

It's even possible that Red River could grow, he added. "We have plenty of land and plenty of water and no encroachment issues."

In Corpus Christi, where the nearby Ingleside base for navy mine hunters and minesweepers is viewed as one of the state's most vulnerable installations, some folks are already looking at the possibility of increasing operations at Naval Air Station Kingsville, perhaps by transferring more pilot training there from a similar base in Meridian, Miss.

"That would be awesome for South Texas," said Gene Guernsey, a Corpus Christi real estate broker who's been fighting to save Ingleside.

"We'll see what comes out."

MILITARY REALIGNMENT

May 16: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld releases his recommendations for realignments and closings, though he's expected to beat the deadline and act this week.

Sept. 8: The Base Realignment and Closure Commission concludes its review of Mr. Rumsfeld's recommendations and sends its conclusions to Mr. Bush.

Sept. 23: The president sends Congress his decision on the commission's findings. If he approves, Congress can reject them or allow them to become law.

Oct. 20: If the president disapproves, the commission sends him a revised list.

Nov. 7: The president approves the revised list, or the process ends. His approved recommendations become law – unless Congress rejects them.