SAN DIEGO COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : The Painful Reordering of National Priorities

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney’s recommendation to close 31 major bases around the country, delivered like a bundle of pink slips at the end of last week, sent communities near 11 targeted facilities in California reeling.

A deli owner near Ft. Ord talked about going on welfare, and the principal of an elementary school serving Marine children at the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station was so stunned that he spoke of carrying on “as if nothing had happened.”

Clearly something had happened, or is about to, once an independent commission and Congress have their say.

When the state catches its breath and glimpses a potential real estate rush on the horizon over prime tracts of government land, it must also reckon with the loss of nearly 27,000 federally funded military and civilian jobs. That will mean a great deal of pain for some communities, especially in Northern California, where the closing of Ft. Ord alone would mean the demise of Monterey County’s third largest industry.

SILVER LINING: The closings are going to hurt in Southern California, too, but they could have been much worse. Even after the bureaucratic debate unfolds in the next few months and bases are ordered closed, it will take several years before any are shut, affording valuable time for planning. Some areas actually are likely to come out ahead.

For example, the city of San Diego figures to lose 665 jobs. But if Long Beach Naval Station closed, San Diego also would pick up some ships and 4,400 sailors and 115 civilians. Naval Ocean Systems Center would gain some 1,140 civilian employees and Camp Pendleton would add both military and civilian positions.

Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo was spared from the cutback list after being targeted by the Air Force last year for closing. This second chance will save 3,200 jobs and preserve a linchpin in the Southern California aerospace industry.

Long Beach was caught off guard by the planned closing of its naval station and hospital. But even that city did manage to hold on, after intense lobbying, to 4,000 civilian jobs at the naval shipyard.

Local businesses would feel it when 3,500 Marines leave the Tustin base, and that school principal could lose half his students--enough to drive any administrator to denial. But Tustin’s closure could also resolve festering tensions in nearby Irvine over the safety of base helicopter flights, and could open land at the base for moderately priced housing, something Orange County badly needs.

NO PAIN, NO GAIN: Because California has such a large share of the defense Establishment, it inevitably is bound to take a lion’s share of hits during any serious assault on the Pentagon budget. That’s bound to hurt. Unfortunately, there is no painless program of diet shakes to whittle away the military pounds.

Times have changed, too. Sweeping upheaval in Eastern Europe and mountains of red ink in the federal deficit cry out for serious attention. The Pentagon has further evidence from the Gulf crisis of the need for a trim fighting machine that can respond better than large standing forces can to the new and unexpected demands of the post-Cold War era.

Moreover, painful as these proposed closings are, it’s hard to argue that this round is political. The Bush Administration learned a lesson on that score last year when it proposed closing 55 military facilities that would have affected personnel living mostly in Democratic congressional districts. This time, the commission system for putting the stamp of approval on base closings was revived. Having reviewed the latest list, Rep. Les Aspin, (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, predicts it will survive pretty much intact.

That means California should prepare for a painful and visible role in reordering national priorities. Yes, it’s going to hurt, but ultimately it must be done.

Affected Bases Long Beach Naval Station Tustin Marine Corps Air Station San Diego Naval Electronic Systems Engineering Center San Diego Combat Systems Test Facility