Durbin Remarks at BRAC Regional Hearing In St. Louis
DURBIN REMARKS AT BRAC REGIONAL HEARING IN ST. LOUIS
Senator Richard Durbin
Base Realignment and Closure Regional Hearing
I want to thank the Commissioners, Admiral Gehman, General Turner, and Congressman Hansen, for coming here to St. Louis University. And thanks to Senator Bond and the Missouri delegation for hosting this important discussion.
I especially want to thank the community members who have journeyed here from Illinois and Iowa because they recognize the critical importance of military facilities to our economies and our security.
Basic Principles
As set out in law, the base closure and realignment process is governed by several core principles.
First, the single most important factor to be considered is the military value of a facility to our national security.
Second, the process is to be open and transparent.
Third, the objective is to enhance readiness and security while saving money.
The integrity of the base closure process depends upon adherence to all these principles.
Military Value
Military value measures current and future mission capabilities, land and air availability, surge and mobilization capacities, environmental factors, and cost of operations and labor force implications. In all these categories, our Illinois facilities score very well.
As we will demonstrate this morning, the Department of Defense has in some cases seriously deviated from its own criteria in making its realignment recommendations.
Data Delayed is Data Denied
The second issue is one of process.
The Department of Defense released its base closure and realignment list on May 13th.
It has taken weeks, however, to secure the data that theoretically justifies that list, and that effort is still going on.
The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has had to go so far as to issue a subpoena to the Pentagon to try and gain full access to the decision making process.
And I know that you, the BRAC Commission, and your staff, have been handicapped by these same delays and same denial of information. I appreciate the fact that this hearing was postponed, to give us more time to prepare.
However, these are thousands and thousands of documents for communities, congressional offices, and the Commission itself to sift through and evaluate. Data delayed is effectively data denied.
Illinois and the Realignment Process
A number of facilities in Illinois are affected by the Department of Defense's proposed realignments.
Scott, Peoria, and Great Lakes
First, Scott Air Force Base and Peoria Air National Guard Base are scheduled to receive both additional planes and additional people to serve expanded missions.
Scott and Peoria are well situated to undertake these expanded responsibilities.
Great Lakes Naval Training Center, however, is slated to receive heavy cuts in its work force, which Mayor Rockingham will address.
Rock Island Arsenal
Today, though, I would primarily like to discuss the proposed realignments of Rock Island Arsenal and Capital Airport in Springfield.
Rock Island Arsenal is a vital national security asset that really consists of two different installations.
The first is the traditional manufacturing center, which has been a critical and reliable source of material during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Along with gun mounts, artillery carriages, and recoil mechanisms, much of the armor that is now protecting soldiers and vehicles in Iraq was manufactured right at Rock Island.
Despite this critical work, the Pentagon recommends cutting 180 positions from the manufacturing center.
We believe this recommendation is based on an error in classification and a misunderstanding of this work. The second part of Rock Island Arsenal is its administrative and headquarters function.
The Department of Defense proposes removing a number of these administrative functions. That would be a mistake.
Rock Island has the space, the security environment, and the work force to grow. Those are assets we should take advantage of.
The Department of Defense proposes taking as many as 1500 direct jobs from the Arsenal, according to our estimates.
Key proposals include moving TACOM, the Tank-automotive and Armaments Command; transfering so-called depot maintenance work; and moving the Army's top-rated Civilian Human Resources Agency, all to installations with lower overall military value rankings.
When you factor in the true costs of such a move - including substantial construction costs and higher annual operating expenses -- we simply don't get to the bottom line savings.
Springfield Capital Airport
The Department of Defense has also recommended transferring the 15 F-16s of the 183d Fighter Wing to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
This recommendation is highly questionable because it is based on flawed data about military value, recruiting, retention and cost.
Military Value and Recruiting
The primary consideration of the BRAC process is supposed to be military value.
This recommendation, however, moves these aircraft to a base in Fort Wayne that DOD has numerically scored as having a lower military value than Springfield, so the starting point is not a good one.
The reason cited for violating the military value principle is the strong recruiting potential in Fort Wayne.
This reason doesn't withstand close scrutiny. Here in Springfield, the 183rd already has excellent recruiting; it's over 100 percent critically manned. Recruiting is not an issue in Springfield, but moving could create a recruiting challenge.
Enclave Units and Undervaluing the Air Guard
Indeed, this recommended move may create a problem where none previously existed.
The Air Force has done no studies about the viability of Air Guard wings without any actual Air Guard aircraft.
Will such units be able to recruit and retain good people if the central mission - flying fighter aircraft - is removed? How valid is this move if we cannot retain the fine men and women who have made the air crew and the support staff of the 183rd so highly valued?
The Air Force has substantially underestimated the true costs of this move, by not paying close enough attention to the unique recruiting and retention patterns of the Air Guard.
When the Air Force projected the personnel costs of this move, it only considered full-time Guardsmen, not the many part-time Guardsmen who make of the bulk of the force.
These Guardsmen are rooted in their communities and their full-time careers. They are not likely to move to Fort Wayne.
DOD officials have frankly admitted that they did not calculate the costs of losing experienced Guardsmen. These losses just did not fit into their models and algorithms.
The war in Iraq has taught us many things, not least the enormous contribution that the National Guard makes to our defense.
Cost Payback: Never
Furthermore, the Air Force's own analysis shows that there is no cost savings in this move. The projected payback for the transfer of the Capital Airport F-16s to Fort Wayne is not 5 years, it's not 10 years, it's never.
Fighter Capabilities
The 183rd Fighter Wing has a long history of fighter operations and performs vital homeland defense missions. It is a top-notch unit. The 183d has outperformed all comparable units in Mission Capable Rates since 2001.
It is unwise for America to disrupt the capabilities of this unit with a move when that move is based on flawed information.
Legal Argument
Finally, we do not believe that it is legal to move the planes without the permission of the Governor. As you probably know, the Illinois Attorney General is looking into this matter.
Conclusions
BRAC was designed to make us safer as a nation, to save money, and to be an open and transparent process.
The Pentagon's proposed realignments will produce none of these results.
The Rock Island and Springfield decisions defy common sense and ignore the clear degradation of military value and the significant negative community impact.
I hope the Commission will take a hard look at these Illinois realignments.
I want to again thank you for coming here today and for your work on the Commission.
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