Shorter Base-Closure List Encourages Officials : Ventura County: Despite good news from Pentagon, officials will continue fighting to safeguard two local naval facilities.

Ventura County leaders are encouraged that the Pentagon has decided to scale back the number of military bases recommended for closure this year, but vowed Friday to remain vigilant in their campaign to keep the area’s two Navy bases off any hit list.

“It’s good news and increases our comfort level,” said Carolyn Leavens, co-chairwoman of the countywide BRAC ’95 Task Force set up to defend local bases. “But I will be much more comfortable in September when it’s over and I know we are not on anybody’s list.”

The reaction followed Defense Secretary William Perry’s announcement Thursday that he expects to recommend fewer bases for shutdown this year than during the last round of base closings in 1993.

His comments, made in a speech in Washington, were a surprising change from his directive a year earlier that set an overall goal of cutting 15% of the nation’s military bases--larger and more painful than any of the three previous rounds of base closures ordered by Congress.

Perry does not make the final decision on base closures, but he wields tremendous influence. For months, the Army, Navy and Air Force have been honing their own lists of bases to offer to Perry as potential sacrifices.

*

On March 1, Perry will forward the Pentagon’s final list of recommended base closures to an independent commission. The panel can add or subtract bases or come up with an entirely new list. But previous commissions have held closely to the defense secretary’s recommendations.

“The secretary of defense plays a big role,” said Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley). “He should have a better feel for what is going to take place than anybody else on the face of this earth.”

But Gallegly said any threat of losing either of Ventura County’s Navy bases, and their 20,000 related jobs, is too important to ignore.

Ventura County Supervisors John Flynn and Maggie Kildee agreed they should continue to actively defend the bases.

As chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors, Kildee plans to be in the nation’s capital next week to meet with the county’s lobbyist. During her visit, she said, she will lobby some officials with influence over the base-closing decisions.

“We shouldn’t let up,” she said.

Flynn said he plans to travel to Washington on Feb. 21 to join other BRAC ’95 Task Force members and continue to push their well-rehearsed message: The Point Mugu and Port Hueneme Navy bases are too important to the nation’s defense to allow their demise.

“We need to have a strong presence in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “The worst mistake we can make is let our guard down.”

*

In his speech Thursday to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Perry mentioned how the nation’s entire defense structure has been reduced by 33% while the bases have been cut back by only 20%. He emphasized the need to trim additional bases so they do not drain defense dollars that should go toward buying new weapons, training the troops and other needs.

But he said he scaled back his ambitious plans in recent weeks after the military services told him it would be too difficult and too costly to reach the 15% goal.

In previous base-closure rounds, Perry said, “we have closed all of the bases that were relatively easy to close. Everything we do from now on is going to be very difficult.”

Bob Conroy, a defense industry executive in Camarillo and BRAC ’95 adviser, said he was surprised that Perry gave in after holding firm for so long.

Conroy, a former Naval aviator, said he has been hearing for some time about the exorbitant costs of closing bases, cleaning up old toxic spills and relocating military commands.

He speculated that the defense secretary’s staff must be getting quite a bit of flak from the services as they prepare their suggested cuts. “They are getting down to the bone,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said, Perry’s comments bode well for Ventura County’s economy.

“It means fewer bases closed and less pressure to close either of the two bases here,” Conroy said.