Senator: Base-closing process won't be as dire as expected
After meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said that return of troops from garrisons overseas would lessen adverse impact at home.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, Tuesday said that the impact of the 2005 round of military base closures is expected to be significantly reduced.
Following a meeting Tuesday with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Hutchison and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in a release the return of at least 70,000 troops from garrisons overseas would lessen the adverse impact of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, process on U.S. military bases.
"Today's news from Secretary Rumsfeld provides concrete evidence the Pentagon is approaching the BRAC process with an updated worldview," Hutchison said. "We must look at our overseas bases first and assess the impact of their realignment" for the war on terrorism.
The Pentagon announced last year that about 70,000 troops stationed abroad would be returning to U.S. bases, including some to be reassigned to Texas installations. Previous estimates indicated the upcoming BRAC round would shutter one in four bases, according to one congressional aide familiar with Tuesday's meeting.
But Hutchison said that bleak projection must be reassessed.
"The precise impact is difficult to measure at this time, but previous estimates will have to be adjusted as the redeployment from overseas to domestic bases occurs," she said.
Despite Hutchinson's positive outlook, some BRAC observers were more cautious.
One congressional analyst noted that lawmakers and lobbyists with a stake in the upcoming BRAC round have been wringing their hands in anticipation of the Pentagon's plan to reduce excess U.S. military infrastructure.
"People are so panicked about this, anything less than the apocalypse is going to be good news," the analyst said, adding that the anticipated return of the 70,000 troops has been a contributing factor in the Pentagon's consistent assertion that the 2005 BRAC round will realign more bases than it closes.
"I think the defense secretary is calling it like he sees it, and Sen. Hutchison is calling it like she sees it," the analyst said. "They are both probably looking at the same elephant, but one sees a trunk and the other a leg."