[CPEO-MEF] 2003 BRAC/EFI Has Support of Past DOD Secretaries

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@cpeo.org>]

[The following comes from the BRAC Roundtable discussion list via the ICMA 
Military Discussion List.  --Aimee]

The item below is from the Oct. 18 Congressional Record.  It reports on
a letter sent the Chairman of the SASC in support of the additional base
closing authority currently being debated by the Conference Committee on
the NDAA FY 02.  While the message has not changed, a new strategy was
used to deliver it.

John Murphy
PPSG, Inc.
john@ppsginc.com
916.362.8276 (v)
651.315.1917 (f)

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BASE CLOSURES -- (Senate - October 18, 2001)

[Page: S10834]  GPO's PDF
---
    Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, on Tuesday, I received a letter on a very
important subject that I wish to bring to the attention of my
colleagues.

    The House of Representatives and the Senate are currently meeting in
joint conference committee on the National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2002. This bill has many provisions that are very important
to our military and to our Nation, but one of the most important of
these is a provision authorizing the President to conduct a new round of
base closures in 2003.

    The Senate voted to support the request of the administration and of
our military leaders to allow the Department of Defense, DOD, to
rationalize, and where necessary reduce, their infrastructure. Allowing
DOD to conduct a new round of base realignment and closures is necessary
to stop wasting taxpayer money, to redirect funds to higher national
security priorities, and to allow the transformation of our military.
Transformation has never meant just buying new weapons.

    The letter I received is signed by eight former Secretaries of
Defense. They write to tell the Congress that we must act to allow DOD
to ensure our base structure supports for our forces and our war
fighting plans. They warn us that forces tied up defending unneeded
bases ``are forces unavailable for the campaign on terrorism'' and that
resources devoted to unneeded facilities cannot be spent on the tools we
will need to win this war.

    This letter is signed by Robert McNamara, Mel Laird, Jim Schlesinger,
Harold Brown, Caspar Weinberger, Frank Carlucci, Bill Perry, and our
former colleague Bill Cohen. I might add that two other former
Secretaries of Defense, Vice President CHENEY and our current Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld, have asked the Congress for this authority on behalf of
this administration.

    Every living current or former Secretary of Defense is telling us it
is essential that we act to reduce our excess infrastructure. The
Congress should listen to the voice of experience on this matter. These
are the men who have had the awesome responsibility of protecting our
Nation's security and running one of the world's largest, most complex
organizations. These are the men who have been in the chain of command,
who have had to make life and death decisions. When they tell us we need
to act, we should listen, and we should act.

    I ask unanimous consent that this letter be printed in the RECORD.

    There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the
RECORD, as follows:


October 15, 2001.

Hon. CARL LEVIN,
Chairman, Committee on Armed Services,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.

    DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This letter underscores the need for the Congress
to approve an additional round of base realignment and closure. While we
understand the sensitivity of this effort, our support for another round
is unequivocal in light of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The Defense Department must be allowed to review its existing
infrastructure to ensure it is positioned to support our current and
evolving force structure and our war fighting plans.

    We are concerned that the reluctance to close unneeded facilities is
a drag on our military forces, particularly in an era when homeland
security is being discussed as never before. The forces needed to defend
bases that would perhaps otherwise be closed are forces unavailable for
the campaign on terrorism. Further, money spent on a redundant facility
is money not spent on the latest technology we'll need to win this
campaign.

    We thank you for all you have done to provide for our military
forces, the finest in the world. We know closing or realigning bases
will be difficult, but we expect you will face many difficult decisions
in the coming weeks and months. With the support of Secretary Rumsfeld,
together we stand ready to assist in any we can.

Sincerely,

William J. Perry, Casper W. Weinberger, James Schlesinger, Robert S.
McNamara, William S. Cohen, Frank C. Carlucci, Harold Brown, Melvin
Laird.




Please note new phone number and address below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aimee R. Houghton
Associate Director, CPEO
1101 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC  20036
tel: 202-452-8039; fax: 202-452-8095
Email: aimeeh@cpeo.org
www.cpeo.org
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