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Sunday, May 15, 2005

International

International

Pentagon to close down 180 military bases

Sridhar Krishnaswami

Rumsfeld plan to save $49 billion over 20 years

FLYING INTO HISTORY: A U.S. airman performs a pre-flight inspection on a C-130H cargo plane at the Air Reserve Station in Niagara Falls, New York, on Friday. This air base is to be shut under a Pentagon plan. — PHOTO: AP

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is proposing to shut down some 180 military installations including 33 major bases, a move that is expected to bring about a major battle between the Defence Department and Congress.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is keeping many other installations including 29 major bases open but with fewer troops. A few bases will see a gain in troop strength.

According to Mr. Rumsfeld his plan will save about $ 49 billions over a 20-year period and is making the point that this re-structuring will make the military mobile and better suited to tackle the war on terrorism.

But overall the Defence Secretary's plan would result in a net loss of about 29,000 military and civilian jobs at the domestic installations. The latest bases closure will have to be approved by a Federal base closing commission and then signed on to by Congress and President.

This is a well-drawn-out process, which will last into the fall, it is said. The political battles on base closures will be tough as members of Congress are keeping and eye on their constituents and communities which will be disadvantaged.

One of the proposed closures of the Defence Secretary is the Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, the home to the B-1B bombers and where the half the fleet is based. That has brought about an immediate response from freshman Senator John Thune who has called the Pentagon thinking "flat wrong".

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