[CPEO-MEF] Saving Arizona's military bases

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Arizona
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Saving Arizona's military bases
June 2, 2003

Gov. Janet Napolitano is on the mark in her effort to protect Arizona's
military bases.

Military operations are a surprisingly large part of Arizona's economy,
and Gov. Janet Napolitano acted wisely Tuesday in naming a nine-member
task force to help ensure that Arizona's military installations are
spared in the next round of base closings, scheduled for 2005.

Tucson's Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is believed to be one of Arizona's
most vulnerable because of the encroachment of housing. Should Tucson
lose Davis-Monthan, or should Arizona lose another of its five major
military installations, the effect on the economy would be large and
painful.

The issue comes about because the federal government has created a
relatively politics-free process for closing down unneeded military
installations. It is, in fact, an essential step as the nation's
military needs change as a result of technological innovations, adoption
of new strategies and developments in the nature of potential threats
facing the country.

Yet Napolitano is wise to try to ensure that those base closures happen
in other states and not in Arizona. An economic study last year by two
consulting firms found military operations in Arizona are "among the
state's most important sources of economic activity."

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/mon/30602editmilitarybases.html

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