Base closure threat downgraded
February 9, 2005
Reassignment of troops overseas aids domestic sites, senators are told
Written by Todd J. Gillman, The Dallas Morning News
WASHINGTON – Texas could survive this year's round of military base closures far better than feared, the state's senators said Tuesday after meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Mr. Rumsfeld told them and 10 other senators that redeployment of troops based overseas will soften the blow on domestic bases by reducing "excess capacity" back home, the senators said.
"This is great news for Texas bases and the communities surrounding them," Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said after the breakfast meeting. She praised Mr. Rumsfeld's embrace of an "updated worldview."
Last year, the Pentagon said U.S. facilities had 25 percent excess capacity. President Bush later announced he would shift 70,000 troops to domestic bases over the next decade, along with 100,000 family members.
Many will end up in Texas, and the commanding officer at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Maj. Gen. Michael Vane, recently predicted in the Army Times that his post "will become at least as big as Fort Hood," the nation's largest military post.
A decade ago Fort Bliss was seen as vulnerable.
The Army has announced plans to send 3,800 troops to Fort Bliss by the end of 2006, and 5,000 to Fort Hood.
Since 1988, there have been four rounds under the Base Realignment and Closure law, or BRAC. About two years ago, Ms. Hutchison pushed to create an Overseas Basing Commission to force the Pentagon to look also at overseas bases, arguing that many are antiquated, redundant and more costly.
The Pentagon has until mid-May to choose which bases to close. A nine-member commission Mr. Bush will soon nominate will review that list and submit a final report by September. Those recommendations take effect automatically unless the president or Congress steps in.
"More and more troops will be returning to domestic bases, and Texas has already seen the benefits of that redeployment," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
The Defense Department spends about $33 billion a year in Texas. State leaders have offered money for road upgrades, utility discounts and a $250 million loan fund for cities to beef up infrastructure for nearby bases. The state has spent $36 million on road improvements around Fort Hood and Fort Bliss.
Two years ago, the Legislature also created the Texas Military Preparedness Commission to pitch the state's 18 bases to Pentagon planners. California and other states have taken similar steps to ward off closures.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, Kathy Walt, agreed that "it certainly would be good news if the impact of BRAC were reduced on stateside bases."
Last month, the governor asked the Legislature to fund an Arabic language degree program at Angelo State University in San Angelo, to supplement Goodfellow Air Force Base's defense language institute.
Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood said he didn't attend Tuesday's breakfast and couldn't elaborate on what Mr. Rumsfeld said. But he noted that local support didn't save every base in previous BRAC rounds.
"There's no BRAC-proofing," he said.
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