[CPEO-MEF] Can't see the forest for the trees

[pparks@igc.org]

Re: Unexploded Arms Require Big Cleanup At 16,000 U.S. Sites and the
current nitpicking over numbers of ranges or subranges, etc. misses the
point.  The point is DoD has yet to come up with any definitive figures or
categories that other branches of the Executive or Legislative (and I'll
bet soon, Judicial) can agree to; much less the public.  They are in the
infancy state of definitive characterization of the contamination (or not)
of the ranges.  And the budget is still not in place.

Kudos to those trying to deal with the above problem, but this is yet to be
a priority of DUSD-I&E, and if UnderSecretary Aldrich's plan to move
Installations and Environment (I&E) from Acquisition, Technology and
Logistics to Personnel and Readiness happens, I suspect even less will be
done just because it will take a few years for bureaucratic and cultural
integration to take place.  But at some point UXO will once again have to
be dealt with, because as we all know, it doesn't seem to disappear on its
own accord.  Until then, I suspect the military will continue to get bad
press on this.  I just hope those on the military side of the house, who
are trying to do something, don't get demoralized.

Cheers and happy turkey,

Polly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~