Closing military bases: Common ground on the wrong front

There is bipartisanship in Congress!

House Republicans and Democrats agree they are not going to let the Obama White House cut defense spending by permitting any more reduction in excess military facilities.

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Fact: Nine years ago, the Air Force found more than 20 percent of its infrastructure was excess. The Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) made a cut of less than 1 percent. Since then, Air Force personnel have been cut by about 48,000 and the number of aircraft has dropped by 500. That’s similar to 10 bases, says one defense expert.

The Air Force needs to save more money, so it is seeking a new BRAC.

But Congress must approve it.

Fact: Some Army facilities built during World War II for 8 million soldiers remain standing. At one, there are 800 buildings; 300 are in use.

Last year, Congress prohibited the Obama administration’s request in the fiscal 2013 budget to start a BRAC process — the politically complex means by which the Defense Department, the public and Congress determine where closures occur.

In 2004, the Bush White House started a BRAC process based on a Pentagon survey that said the services had 24 percent in excess infrastructure. The 2005 BRAC process shrank that by 6 percent, tops.

However, the initial BRAC investment costs $35 billion, almost double the original estimates. BRAC will still save billions, but recovering the cost of executing the plan will be delayed. There are $4 billion in savings a year.

Former defense secretary Leon E. Panetta told reporters last month that a request for a new BRAC process to begin in 2015 and 2017 would be in the fiscal 2014 Obama budget “because you can’t have a huge infrastructure supporting a reduced force.”

The Obama 2014 budget is to be released in early April, and a BRAC red alert has hit Congress.

On Thursday, the House Armed Services subcommittee on readiness showed its members were ready to defend installations in their districts against any BRAC effort.

Rep. Robert Wittman (R-Va.), the panel’s chairman, opened a hearing asking: “Where is the excess infrastructure? I’ve yet to see any empirical evidence that would provide even the slightest degree of support for another round of BRAC.”

Wittman, whose district includes Hampton Roads — home to major Navy facilities along with nearby Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Coast Guard installations — added: “BRAC 2005 was an absolute failure. . . . The GAO [Government Accountability Office] determined that the BRAC 2005 payback would not occur for over 13 years.”

John Conger, acting deputy defense undersecretary for installations and environment, tried to offer context. He agreed the initial BRAC costs were “larger than anticipated, but it is done now. We are doing nothing but saving from this point on.”

Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) asked Conger for a list of excess capacity since “in your testimony, you seem to believe very adamantly that there’s excess capacity.”

When Conger responded that authority to conduct a BRAC survey was needed before the Defense Department could produce such a list, Scott asked “How can you be so convinced that there’s excess capacity if you don’t know where it is?”