Base Closure List Backed

Pentagon officials sought Monday to dissuade a commission from changing any part of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s sweeping proposal to close or downsize military bases.

The nine-member panel is considering adding bases to his list of recommended closures and it sought explanations for why the Pentagon decided to leave open some bases, including the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego.

“While the department stands behind its recommendations, it fully supports the commission’s analysis of alternatives,” Michael Wynne, the Pentagon’s technology and weapons-buying chief who oversaw the base project, told commissioners.

However, he stressed that changing one part of the proposal could disrupt other aspects of the “comprehensive, integrated and interdependent” package of changes to the domestic military base structure.

For their part, commissioners expressed reservations over several parts of the proposal, specifically plans to reorganize dozens of Air National Guard bases and close the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.