Powell Calls Base Closures a Painful but Necessary Step

The nation’s senior military officer on Friday defended the latest round of military base closures as a painful step that “has to be done” if the armed services are to maintain their strength amid major budget cuts.

In speeches in Sacramento and in Los Angeles--both areas threatened by new military closures--Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that defense budget cutbacks will force deeper cuts in military personnel if unneeded installations are not closed. And, he said, the imbalances that then would be created would erode the nation’s military capability.

“You can’t protect the infrastructure by constantly going after the active forces,” Powell said in a speech to Times employees. “The more you take them down, the less you need the infrastructure; it tilts.”

In wide-ranging comments, Powell also said he believes Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin “is the best hope for Russia at the moment” and hotly rejected charges that senior military officers, including himself, have been insubordinate in their opposition to a controversial proposal to lift the military’s ban on gay men and lesbians in the service.

“The greatest act of insubordination is not to tell the commander in chief what your honest views are,” said Powell, visibly angered by what he called “cheap shot” editorialists who have suggested that he and other senior military leaders had overstepped in opposing Clinton’s attempt to lift the ban.

The general, who has been touted as a future candidate for national office, also waved off suggestions of political ambitions. At the same time, however, Powell pointedly left the door open to a future run.

“I won’t foreclose anything in the future. But candidly, at the moment, elected political office is not of interest to me. But I would never rule anything out,” Powell said.

Powell’s comments came as Pentagon officials sought to defuse charges that California has been unfairly hit by base closures. At a time when defense cuts have brought major reductions in California industries, the latest round of proposed closures has presented new complications as the state contends with the persistent effects of recession.

On a speaking tour that took him from Texas to California, Powell appeared intent on convincing audiences that their own reluctance to accept changes in military structure, not the Pentagon’s, threatens to stall the military’s transition to a new, leaner shape. He called California “a friend” of the military, but pointedly warned that Californians, too, must accept their share of sacrifice as the nation’s military forces shrink.

“Base structure in California, industries in California all grew and thrived on the basis of the Cold War assumptions that have to be modified,” said Powell.

Many bases have outlived their usefulness, said Powell, becoming costly burdens at a time when the Pentagon is struggling to come to grips with a “very, very untidy, troubling new world order.”

“Some of the Army bases we have are left over from the Indian wars, from the Civil War,” said Powell. “A lot of the bases we have in Southern California and Texas were put there in World War I, when they didn’t have instruments for aircraft and they needed good clear weather and long landing strips to train.”