Panel Urges Federal Aid for Areas Hit by Defense Cuts

A congressionally chartered commission said Wednesday that federal assistance will be required to help some sections of the country--such as Southern California--cope with the impact of defense cutbacks.

At the same time, the commission warned that federal programs now in effect are not doing the job.

The report, by the seven-member Defense Conversion Commission, recommended changes in current programs and urged the enactment of new programs to help individuals and businesses adjust to the change.

At the same time, however, the 85-page document reiterated warnings by other defense experts that the best way to ease the transition to a post-Cold War era would be to foster a more robust economy, with more opportunity for overall job growth.

It also confirmed earlier projections that California is likely to lose about 178,000 defense-related jobs between 1991 and 1997--about 19% of the estimated 800,000 such slots that existed in the state in 1991, but only about 1.7% of the state’s total work force.

The long-awaited report is expected to be cited by both sides in the debate over defense conversion--bolstering warnings by critics that massive defense conversion programs are not likely to do much good, yet endorsing some limited proposals made by activists in the field.

It comes as President-elect Bill Clinton is beginning to look seriously at recommendations for dealing with the defense-adjustment problem, which was one of his major themes during the presidential campaign.

The recommendations follow seven months of study by the panel, which conducted public hearings in several areas of the country, including Southern California. The group examined a broad range of so-called “conversion” programs, both government and private.

The thrust of the commission’s criticism of existing programs was that they are too fragmented across different agencies and departments, are not sufficiently coordinated and often are not geared to meet real-life needs.

The panel also found that much of the $1.7 billion in new initiatives enacted by Congress in the last two years failed to meet requirements for effective conversion programs.

Following the lead of several private studies in recent weeks, it recommended consolidating all such programs under one official in the White House. It also cautioned that programs should be tailored to fit the needs of local communities.

Overall, however, the study concluded that except for a few areas, such as California, the conversion to a post-Cold War economy “does not pose any extraordinary problems” for the country and implied that no massive new adjustment programs are needed.

But it said the government could play a role in such areas as encouraging the integration of military and commercial technology, easing the impact on individuals and communities and maintaining critical industrial skills, which it charged is not being done effectively now.

The document called for “dramatic and immediate” actions to promote the development and use of technology, products and processes that could be used by both military and civilian buyers at once, partly by removing existing laws that stand in the way of such integration.

It also cited a need to take special steps to help maintain critical skills that might be needed to replace or enhance existing weapons systems, despite the cutbacks in weapons procurement. But it said that such actions should be taken “on a case-by-case basis.”