Timeline for Pentagon base closures

Pentagon officials are preparing for their fifth round of base closings. Officials won’t specify how many of 400 bases are targeted, but say the military has 24 percent more capacity than it needs.

Here is the schedule:

. March 15: Deadline for President Bush to nominate nine people to serve on the Base Realignment and Closure commission.

. May 16: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld must recommend to the commission which bases should close or be realigned.

. Sept. 8: Commission submits its recommendations to the president.

. Sept. 23: Deadline for Bush to approve the list and submit it to Congress or return it to the commission for more work.

. Oct. 20: Revised recommendations, if required, are due to the president.

. Nov. 7: Deadline for the president to rule on revised recommendations.

. The closings become law 45 legislative days after presidential approval unless Congress rejects them.