Local Leaders Prepare for More Defense Cuts

Facing a new round of national defense cuts and military consolidations, Ventura County business and civic leaders Friday outlined plans to bolster the two military bases here and put Navy technology to commercial use.

Leaders have been lobbying aggressively to bring E-2 Hawkeye squadrons from the Miramar station in San Diego to Point Mugu. The decision could come as early as next week. They say they are also hoping to get several Coast Guard aviation units from McClellan Air Force Base.

In addition, civilian and military leaders have signed agreements allowing the Navy to turn over unclassified data, developed in its research, for use by private firms.

Spearheading the efforts is the Ventura County Regional Defense Partnership--21st Century, which is really the second phase of the BRAC ’95 Task Force that successfully lobbied to keep Point Mugu from closing.

With the Pentagon’s budget continuing to shrink, the Navy faces a $20-billion to $30-billion budget shortfall by 2000, a military analyst said at the meeting.

“We have to recognize our opportunity and prepare ourselves,” said County Supervisor John Flynn, a task force board member. “The best defense is a good offense. We’ve got a major challenge. . . . We know for sure that the military will continue to cut back. We have to become competitive and attract people to the naval base.”

Ventura County’s bases contribute $1.3 billion annually to the local economy--more than the $1 billion contributed by agriculture, county officials said.

Point Mugu narrowly escaped closure--and the loss of more than 9,000 jobs--last year. The BRAC ’95 Task Force raised $290,000, hired a Washington lobbyist and sent delegates to the nation’s capital to make sure that federal officials were aware of the widespread community support behind Point Mugu.

This year’s defense budget sets up a mechanism for consolidating military labs and test-and-evaluation centers--key components of both local bases. These streamlining efforts are to occur within a five-year time frame.

The group also hopes Ventura’s military bases will become a home for units that were displaced in last year’s base closures. The armed forces are now making decisions based on the bottom line and Ventura must be prepared to offer the best deal, said Penny Bohannon), deputy administrative officer for the county’s government affairs office.

Tight money has changed the way the Pentagon and defense contractors do business, said Grace Vaswani, a small-business owner who attended the meeting.

“Before, you would sit and wait to see what kind of funding came from the government,” said Vaswani, a military contractor. “Now we need to go out and find projects that can come to the Oxnard Plain.”

The other side of the coin is promoting private companies by providing access to unclassified information the Navy has gleaned through testing missiles for warships and planes.

Arthur Catapang, president of a local technology consulting firm, said the military’s willingness to share technological information with civilian industries is a welcome change.

“This is a breakthrough,” said Catapang, who does business in the Philippines. “Before, the military would not share information. Because of the reductions and closures, now you have a common interest.”