Panel May Ease State’s Share of Base Closures

Members of the independent panel that will review the Defense Department’s base-closing plan expressed concern Monday that California may have been hit too hard by the Pentagon proposal--suggesting they may make some changes before the list becomes law.

Panelists on the eight-member Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission did not promise to alter any of the recommendations. And they asserted that the military value of a base, rather than the impact of closing it, should be their primary criterion.

Nevertheless, during the commission’s opening hearing on Monday, and in interviews later, members repeatedly raised concerns that the state would suffer an unacceptable economic burden if the Pentagon has its way and closes eight major bases.

James A. Courter, the former New Jersey congressman who heads the panel, said at a press conference later that the economic impact is “something we’ll look at very carefully,” particularly in the San Francisco Bay area, which is home to five of the targeted bases.

Defense Secretary Les Aspin, who appeared before the commission to defend his proposals as “fair,” virtually invited the panel to change the department’s recommendations if they believe they would unduly hurt any local community.

When panel member Robert D. Stuart Jr. asked Aspin whether planning to close many bases in South Carolina amounted to the same sort of “piling on” he sought to avoid in California, the secretary replied that such decisions would be up to the commission.

“It’s your choice, sir,” he said. “The ball’s now in your court.”

Aspin also conceded that the Pentagon had eliminated McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento and the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio Army base in Monterey from an earlier version of the list because it feared that the “cumulative” economic impact, taking into account previous closures in the region, would be too severe.

The consideration of “cumulative economic impact” on a region is a new criterion for the Pentagon, which previously has eschewed that issue. Some lawmakers have charged that Aspin bowed to political pressure from the state in sparing McClellan and the Presidio.

On Friday, Aspin recommended closing eight large military installations in California and reducing the size of 18 others, including March Air Force Base in Riverside, as part of a third round of base-closings designed to shut 31 and cut 134 others nationwide.

The shutdowns in California include El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, the Naval Air Station and the Naval Aviation Depot in Alameda, Oakland Naval Supply Center, Oakland Naval Hospital, Treasure Island Naval Station in San Francisco Bay and the San Diego Naval Training Center.

The Pentagon is shutting or reducing the size of bases and other facilities around the world to keep pace with the deliberate shrinkage of U.S. military forces in the post-Cold War era. The current round of closures is based on former President George Bush’s recommendation to trim the military forces to 1.6 million members by 1995. But Clinton is planning to cut the level to 1.4 million, which Aspin has said will inevitably mean shutting still more bases.

The panel members’ remarks Monday did not necessarily guarantee that the commission will end up eliminating any California bases from the list in its final package. But the comments did suggest that economic impact will play a higher-profile role than it did in 1988 or 1991, the two previous rounds of base-closings in recent times. By law, the panel may add or subtract bases from the Pentagon’s list as it sees fit.

Monday’s session marked the start of a complex, 4 1/2-month-long review process in which the panel is expected to examine the Pentagon’s recommendations, take testimony and gather information on its own, and then draft its own proposals to the President and Congress.

The President and the House and Senate then have an opportunity to accept the entire package as is, or reject it and send it back to the commission. If they accept the plan, its recommendations take effect Sept. 1.

Aspin also challenged the commission to find another large Air Force equipment maintenance center to replace McClellan on the closure list. He said he did not do so himself because it was so close to the deadline that local officials would have felt “blindsided.”

Currently there are four such logistics centers besides McClellan. They are Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, Hill Air Force Base in Utah, Warner-Robins Air Force Base in Georgia and Kelly Air Force Base in Texas.

Aspin’s recommendations Friday also called for increasing the military and civilian complements at 21 existing installations in California, such as the naval station at San Diego, which would become the Navy’s major West Coast hub.

According to the Pentagon, the shutdowns would eliminate 61,591 civilian and military jobs in the state over the next three years. However, the accompanying increases would add 25,606 military slots and 4,238 civilian jobs, reducing the overall impact on the state.

In comments to the commission, Aspin defended his base-closing recommendations.