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For Immediate Release: March 25, 2004

Contact:

Harald Stavenas Angela Sowa (202) 225-2539 Sarah Shelden (Hefley) (202) 225-4422

Statement of Chairman Joel Hefley
Hearing on 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC Process)

Today, the Readiness Subcommittee will receive testimony from the Department of Defense and the General Accounting Office on the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure - or "BRAC" - process.

Over the past four months, DOD has met several statutory requirements in advance of the 2005 BRAC round. On February 12, the Department published the final selection criteria that will be used to make BRAC decisions. Several members have already expressed concern that the final criteria were identical to the draft criteria published in December 2003, leading them to believe that the hundreds of public comments and concerns about the draft criteria were ignored by the Department. I would ask our witnesses to address this perception and explain why the Department decided not to make any changes to the draft criteria.

In addition, DOD published several documents required by BRAC law earlier this week, including:

. a detailed force structure plan that is based upon an assessment of probable threats over the next 20 years;

. a description of the infrastructure necessary to support the force structure plan; and

. certification, based upon the force structure plan and infrastructure requirements, that a round of BRAC is in fact necessary.

While the BRAC selection criteria might be considered the boundaries of the base closure process, the documents received this week are at the center of DOD's justification for another BRAC round.

As such, I think it is safe to say that the Members of this subcommittee are very interested in the Department's recent submission. Throughout the coming year, the members of this committee will be asked by their constituents - is a round of base closures in 2005 justified? Is it necessary? And is it timely?

Considering the number of open-ended challenges facing the Department of Defense, including an ongoing war against terrorism, the global posture review, a tight federal budget, and the significant and continuing transformation of our nation's military, these are fair questions to ask. Ultimately, we must be able to answer the question: Is 2005 the right time for another round of base closures? Should Congress consider delaying or even canceling the next BRAC round? I ask that our witnesses address this fundamental question.

Before I recognize Mr. Ortiz for his remarks, I must make a few points to the Members of this committee. First, the legal requirements of BRAC dictate that the Department of Defense conduct internal deliberations without interference or undue influence. For this reason, our witnesses may be legally bound NOT to address some of our concerns and questions. While this may be a source of frustration, I hope that all of us will recognize the legal limitations to which our witnesses are bound.

Second, the force structure plan and threat assessment received by the committee this week have classified elements to them. Should questions need to be addressed in a classified forum, I would ask our witnesses to defer their answers until a more appropriate time and place.

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