[CPEO-IRF] Closure and the high-tech workforce

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Base-closure criteria change over time

By Andy Pasztor
The Wall Street Journal
Printed in the Portsmouth Herald
April 28, 2005

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center here 
illustrates the dramatic changes in the politics of military-base closings.

Shuttering bases has always been contentious, but in the past, the 
Pentagon has primarily based its decisions on criteria such as the 
physical layout of a base, age of the buildings, number of runways and 
projected savings from merging overlapping operations. With traditional 
belt-tightening options dwindling, however, the focus is shifting to 
places like the Air Force base here, where a potential brain drain is at 
stake.

...

As Pentagon brass, state officials and members of Congress marshal 
forces on both sides, behind-the scenes maneuvering also highlights the 
broader challenge of retaining experienced employees, particularly in 
light of the aerospace industry’s aging work force. For instance, Boeing 
Co.'s difficulty in this area was partly responsible for safety lapses 
that led to the 2003 space-shuttle explosion. Likewise, when Aerospace 
Corp. moved many of its offices to northern Virginia in the mid-1990s, 
it lost about two-thirds of its employees.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/04282005/world/39410.htm


--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

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