Officials to Fight Idea of Closing Military Sites : Defense: Word that three installations might be closed or ‘realigned’ catches many by surprise. Politicians and business leaders say the move would alter the very spirit of San Diego.

San Diego business and political leaders greeted word Friday that a Defense Department commission is considering closing or “realigning” three military facilities as a call to arms.

With military spending totaling $9.7 billion a year in San Diego--or nearly 20% of the city’s $56-billion economy--the economic effect of the changes was reason enough to worry, said critics of the commission’s findings.

Moreover, they said, by considering the closure of the San Diego Naval Training Center and the realignment of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, the commission was threatening to alter the very spirit of San Diego.

“Military is our No. 1 industry. It is part of San Diego’s fabric,” said Paul Downey, a spokesman for Mayor Maureen O’Connor. For that reason, he said, the mayor plans to work with local congressmen to fight the possible changes. “If that means going to Washington, she’ll go to Washington.”

O’Connor was not alone. San Diego’s congressional representatives also vowed to help make San Diego’s case.

“We must set forth our case on the merits. . . ,” Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Coronado), the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. “Our bases are cost-effective, they get the job done, and they’re close to the fleet.”

Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham (R-San Diego) agreed.

“The positive side of this announcement is that the chiefs of these facilities and the city of San Diego now have some advance warning to put together cases in their own defense,” he said in a statement. “When the commission looks at all the facts, I am confident that they will conclude that these San Diego installations are an essential . . . part of our national defense.”

The commission’s announcement caught some Navy and Marine officials in San Diego off guard. Some admitted that it left them baffled.

At a midday news conference, Maj. Gen. John S. Grinalds, the commanding general of MCRD, said he does not know what it means that the commission recommended his facility be studied “for realignment.”

“I must tell you that I do not know what ‘study for realignment’ means. I have called our authorities at Headquarters Marine Corps (in Washington) on two occasions this morning . . . and they don’t know what it means either,” said Grinalds, who said that the Corps has considered incorporating MCRD into Camp Pendleton, but has found both “pros and cons.”

More than half of the 40,000 Marines recruited annually by the Corps are trained at MCRD. The facility consists of about 7,000 active-duty Marines and sailors, 600 full-time civilian employees and 250 part-time employees.

“This morning we graduated 400 new Marines . . . (who are) going out to serve their country and their Corps,” Grinalds said. “We see that happen every week of the year. We see promise and promise fulfilled and fulfilled again of what the Marine Corps can do for the youth of our country. . . . Anything that would happen that would detract from our ability to do that would be, I think, a real loss for the country.”

The San Diego Naval Training Center, which the commission listed as a candidate for realignment or closure, provides basic training and special naval skills to about 40,000 sailors each year. Known as NTC, it has a population of 12,000, including 168 civilian employees, 1,750 active-duty enlisted men and officers, and more than 7,000 recruits and trainees.

The third San Diego-based facility on the commission’s list, the Naval Electronic Systems Engineering Center, was recommended to be studied for realignment. The center is relatively small, with about 600 jobs. In April, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney recommended the center’s closure.

Some San Diego civic leaders speculated that MCRD and the San Diego Naval Training Center appear on the commission’s list in an attempt to placate other regions that have been told they may lose facilities.

“Florida is saying, ‘Why not close San Diego instead of Orlando?’ ” said Lee Grissom, president of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, who plans to help make the case for San Diego when commission members visit here during the coming weeks. “I think this exercise is going to be good for us. . . . I think it’s appropriate that San Diego should anticipate having to defend itself. I feel very strongly that we can do it successfully.”

Grissom said he does not believe that closing MCRD, which occupies 388 acres next to Lindbergh Field, would solve San Diego’s airport woes.

“Lindbergh Field has got more shortcomings than Saddam Hussein,” he said, adding that, even if the airport could expand onto MCRD land, it would still be crowded.

Mike Abrams, a spokesman for City Councilman Ron Roberts, who is pushing a proposal to build a regional airport on Otay Mesa, agreed.

Adding MCRD property to Lindbergh’s existing 471 acres, he said, would mean “you could build new gates, roads and parking lots. But that wouldn’t stop it from having major safety problems. It wouldn’t stop the planes from stacking up in the sky. It wouldn’t come near to solving the airport problem.”

Until the commission’s recommendations are made final, several local leaders advised, San Diegans should remain calm--when all is finally decided, there may have nothing to complain about.

“The fact that the commission’s new candidates for study include three San Diego installations isn’t good news, but neither is it the end of the world,” Cunningham said.

Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego) agreed, saying the mere inclusion of San Diego sites was “not a time for panic at all.”

At an impromptu press conference Friday in Kensington, Lowery, the ranking Republican on the House military construction appropriations subcommittee, said he thought it was “highly unlikely” the San Diego Naval Training Center would close because the Navy needs training facilities on the West Coast.

Lowery also said the proposal to “realign” activities at MCRD to Camp Pendleton would not cause a drastic shake-up because Marine recruits already perform some of their training at the the Oceanside base.

He added, “Whatever will happen with MCRD, those personnel, civilians as well as military personnel, will remain in San Diego County. They may go up the road a little bit, but I’m not even sure that will happen.”

Times staff writer Alan Abrahamson contributed to this article.