Sunday, April 12, 1998

Closing bases at home not right strategy now

By Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison

In a recent report to Congress, Secretary of Defense William Cohen called for another round of military base closures "to support our forces today and in the future." In unveiling that report, he hit on the right question when he asked if the United States military will "remain the preeminent military power in the future."

But his conclusion that our increasingly serious readiness problems can only be solved by another round of base closures diverts attention from the primary source of our readiness woes today -- unplanned, large-scale contingency operations in places like Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia.

Cohen recently admitted we are experiencing some "fraying at the edges" in terms of our readiness. In calling for more base closures, Cohen identified the impact of excess bases on readiness, but failed even to mention the open-ended mission in Bosnia, which has been and continues to be a serious drain on our operations and maintenance funds.

We have now spent more than $8 billion on that mission, and the meter is still running.

Closing additional bases will save money only if we can be absolutely sure we will never need those bases in the future.

I object strongly to the administration's plans to close bases in the United States while the Pentagon is, this year, planning to spend more than $500 million building new, temporary military installations in places like Bosnia, Southwest Asia and Europe.

While there may indeed be some redundant bases that can be closed, I do not share Cohen's enthusiasm for the "purity" of the Base Realignment and Closure process -- nor his confidence in the commission's ability to select the right bases for closure.

Our own recent experience in Texas with the closures of Kelly and Reese Air Force bases did nothing to reassure me. For example, Reese in Lubbock, which provided entry level pilot training, was closed on the recommendation of the last BRAC Commission.

Now I have learned the Air Force seriously underestimated its requirements for new pilots and is experiencing a critical shortfall in training spaces for new pilot training as a direct result of having closed Reese.

Kelly AFB was another painful example of a process that failed.

I do not believe the Congress should delegate the responsibility for maintaining or closing military bases to a commission that brings its own inherent political considerations to the table.

Finally, significant questions remain about the projected savings that might result from additional BRAC rounds.

In the past five years, we have cut our forces too fast and too deep. We now have 500,000 fewer troops than we had during Desert Storm. I believe we may have to ramp up from that number. Once you close a military base, it is very difficult -- and very expensive -- to get it back.

It is simply unwise at this time to close bases in the United States while expanding them overseas. We should do neither until we better understand our the structure and mission requirements of our future forces.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican from Texas, is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.