BRAC concerned about security risk

WASHINGTON – Controversy over the Defense Department’s plan to close Air National Guard stations around the country intensified on several fronts Thursday.

Members of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission said that consolidating Air National Guard bases into a few large ones, as the Pentagon wants to do, would put homeland security at risk in an age of unpredictable terrorism.

“There’s a lot of concern around the country. But there is more to it than the perception of the public – the national defense is being hampered,” said commission member James Bilbray, a former congressman from Nevada.

BRAC commissioners said they were frustrated by the failure of Air Force and Pentagon officials to reach an agreement with the Air National Guard over how to proceed, as the commission had instructed them to do last month.

“Obviously it’s not happened,” said commission Chairman Anthony Principi, who served earlier as secretary of veterans affairs under President Bush.

The commission has to provide its list of base closings and realignments to Bush by Sept. 8.

Other developments at Thursday’s BRAC Commission hearing also raised questions about homeland security as well as the future of the base-closing process, including:

The chief of the National Guard Bureau, Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, testified that whatever the outcome of the BRAC process, he would reopen Air National Guard bases to ensure that every state in the country has at least one working base. That led to confusion about whether the base-closing process, regarding Guard facilities, is meaningless.

Air Force officials acknowledged that they did not formally consult with the Department of Homeland Security about closing the bases. That prompted concerns about a lack of communication among agencies vital in the war on terror.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff refused to attend or send a ranking official.

Thursday’s session was billed by the commission as its look at the impact of the Pentagon’s base-closing recommendations on homeland security and on the Air National Guard. Top Pentagon, Air Force, National Guard officials testified, but Chertoff – despite being listed on the agenda – declined.

“I’m shocked we didn’t have a high official from the Department of Homeland Security to assist us in these deliberations,” said commissioner Sam Skinner.

Katy Montgomery, a spokeswoman at homeland security, said the agency sent no one because a Coast Guard official who advises Chertoff had testified to the commission last month.

“It would be much better if homeland security had decided to be a player,” Bilbray said, “but unfortunately they’ve chosen not to be.”

Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., deplored statements by Pentagon officials that they hadn’t formally consulted with homeland security officials.

“We didn’t create the Department of Homeland Security to exist in a vacuum,” he said.