Bush Endorses Base Closing Recommendations

On September 15, President Bush endorsed the Base Reallocation and Closure (BRAC) Commission’s recommendations for closing 22 military bases and realigning 33 others. He had until September 23 to accept the recommendations in their entirety or return them to the commission. Congress now has 45 days to reject the complete report; otherwise the list will be fully authorized. The commission generally had accepted Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s plan to restructure the network of military bases in the United States. It had, however, disagreed with him in some instances by recommending retention of several targeted bases, including Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Maine; Submarine Base, New London, Conn.; Ellsworth AFB, S.D.; and Cannon AFB, N.M. Because Congress did not reject any of the reports from previous BRAC rounds, this one is expected to be fully approved. For the Commission’s recommendations and other relevant information, visit www.brac.gov.