Rumsfeld: Base closures to be smaller

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon now foresees a much smaller round of base closings and consolidations, saying it has only half as much surplus space as previously estimated, according to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

That is likely to make the politically touchy subject of base closings less difficult for the Bush administration, although any closures cause angst among the affected communities and their representatives in Congress. Cutting surplus capacity saves billions for the Pentagon.

Rumsfeld is to submit his list of recommended closures and realignments to the independent Base Realignment and Closure Commission no later than May 16, and the commission is required by law to submit its final report to President Bush by Sept. 8.

The Pentagon has kept an exceptionally tight lid on information about which bases might be closed or realigned. Rumsfeld is scheduled to testify publicly before the commission on May 16.

For the past few years, the Pentagon has said it had 20 percent to 25 percent more U.S. base capacity than needed for the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

But in a conference call with newspaper editorial writers across the country on Thursday, Rumsfeld said the amount of surplus is not nearly as large as had been estimated, in part because tens of thousands of U.S. troops will be brought home from bases in Asia and Europe.

“Without final figures, I would say the percent will be less than half of the 20 to 25 percent that has been characterized previously,” Rumsfeld said, according to two writers who were on the conference call. A third writer confirmed that he said the cuts would be about half previous estimates.

Rumsfeld had previously said the current round of base closings and realignment – the first since 1995 – would result in less shrinkage of capacity than the 20 percent to 25 percent figure. But he had not previously said it might be only half that range.

Because bases vary in size and utility, cutting capacity is not the same as cutting a specific number of bases. Rumsfeld has given no estimate of the number of bases that might get cut.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in an interview Friday that in a meeting on Feb. 8 Rumsfeld told him and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison that about 15 percent of base capacity would be eliminated.

In a related development, a congressionally chartered commission that studied the Pentagon’s plan for adjusting its troop presence on foreign bases released a report Friday endorsing the concept as “important to our nation and necessary,” but advised that it be slowed and re-ordered.