Navy to Seek Private Bids for Weapons Handling

The Navy says it will seek private sector bids for the bulk of its weapons handling operations nationwide, raising the prospect that outside firms would load and inventory Tomahawk missiles, torpedoes and other powerful munitions.

The bidding effort is still in its early stages at half a dozen bases including the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, which is the busiest munitions depot on the West Coast. Officials do not plan to review competitive bids from private contractors for the delicate task of moving and storing weapons until January 2001.

But already, critics are raising concerns about privatization, saying it could compromise safety and national security in wartime and peacetime.

“Handling ammunition is not like handling groceries. You need special skills, and you need special oversight,” said Wiley Pearson, defense policy analyst for the union representing civilian weapons handlers. “As a matter of national defense and national security, there is a huge risk here.”

Privatization is nothing new to the military or the federal government, which has set up competitive bidding between the private sector and public employees for a variety of services, including welfare casework.

But some experts believe weapons handling is a poor choice for outsourcing because of the potentially dire consequences if munitions are mishandled or placed in the wrong hands. They point out that many weapons are transported on open roads--heightening the public safety risk if they are mishandled.

“There is no reason to expect the same degree of loyalty from a contract worker as you expect from a staff worker,” said Jerrold Post, a professor of political psychology at George Washington University who studies government privatization. His research indicates that, although government workers undergo continual security reviews, private contract workers receive “far less attention.”

Navy officials stressed that any privatization will occur with safety and security in mind and that all private employees will probably undergo extensive background checks.

The competitive bidding for weapons handling is part of a nationwide effort by the Navy to outsource up to 80,500 jobs. Officials hope the shift will save $8 billion by 2005.

“What it comes down to is we all work for the American taxpayer,” said Gregg Smith, public affairs officer for the Seal Beach station. “And we owe it to them to find the most effective and efficient way to accomplish our mission here.”

Some military experts see no problem with the Navy’s effort, saying that private competition can only make operations more efficient.

“There is absolutely no question that the competitive private sector can do the job of loading weapons, and can do it well,” said Retired Navy Adm. Luther Schriefer, now with Business Executives for National Security in Washington. “There is not any more risk of sabotage with them than there is with government workers. They are American citizens, too.”

The Pentagon instructed weapons depots across the country 13 months ago to prepare for competitive bidding on weapons handling. Seal Beach and other naval weapons stations on the West Coast are preparing detailed studies of nearly every aspect of their work, to be used by private contractors in preparing competitive bids.

Besides Seal Beach, other bases involved include those in Concord and Fallbrook in California as well as facilities in Washington state, New Jersey, Virginia and South Carolina.

The studies cover munitions workers who load and unload tons of missiles, rockets, torpedoes and other weaponry from scores of warships each year and store and inventory them securely.

Current government employees will also have a chance to bid for the contracts. If they submit more efficient bids, they can continue working at the jobs.

Pentagon officials said in a written statement that the final choice would be made by the command staff at each base.

The efforts worry longtime weapons workers.

“In all loading of ammunition, our bottom line is safety. The contractor’s bottom line is money,” said David Gentry, a “block and brace” carpenter who for 12 years has secured weapons on warships as well as trains and trucks that transport munitions cross-country from Seal Beach.

Union leaders also question the legality of privatizing weapons handling, saying that military law prohibits contracting of “inherently governmental” functions that are key to national defense.

Pentagon officials involved in the privatization did not respond to requests for interviews.

In a written statement, however, the Office of U.S. Navy Information said a special unit of the Pentagon “monitors the contractor’s compliance with all security provisions as defined in the contract.”

Officials from the Seal Beach base also discounted critics’ concerns about security breaches.

“The companies we are talking about are very security conscious,” said Smith. “One employee could not steal a weapon off this base unless [he or she] is extremely strong. You can’t take a Tomahawk missile and stick it in your truck and drive it off the base.”

Schriefer, the retired admiral, agreed. “You could drop one of those weapons from 100 feet, and not a thing will happen,” he said. “You wouldn’t believe what chemicals private companies are already shipping safely down the highway right next to you.”

The Seal Beach base has already seen its staff dwindle from nearly 2,000 civilians and many more military personnel in 1990 to 430 civilians and 120 military personnel.

Gentry, head of the local union, said he and 300 other civilian employees at Seal Beach--including 105 weapons handlers--may lose their jobs to privatization.

He also said there would be inherent risks to replacing the veteran, highly trained work force. He noted that federal employees are banned from strikes or work stoppages that could cripple wartime mobilization but it was unclear whether those rules would apply to private workers.

The Pentagon, in its written statement, responded that a private firm could be found in default of its contract if a strike took place.

Government workers would legally be first in line for openings with a private company, but their wages and benefits could be lower and pensions could be affected.

Gentry said that even if he was hired by a private firm nothing could stop a contractor from firing him after six months and replacing him with an inexperienced $8-an-hour worker.

Smith said the competitive bidding process will take into account the experience level of longtime base workers.

“We’ve got folks on our wharves who have been doing that job for 40 years,” he said. “That is something that is going to be looked at, whether any contractor has that experience or is able to get hold of that experience in their hiring.”