FINAL BRAC VIEW

A final recommendation by the Base Realignment and Closure commission was one of its more sensible. It noted in sending its conclusions to President Bush last week that the commission’s work could have been more complete had it been allowed to wait until after the release of the Defense Department’s Quadrennial Defense Review. Given that the next one of these reviews is due to be completed in just a few months, the nearly concluded BRAC process could soon look rushed and badly informed.

Begun in 1997, the QDR uses the National Security Strategy to assess the Defense Department force strength, budget, plans for modernizing, programs and other resources. The department is expected to send its latest review to Congress this winter; it will be the first wartime review and the first since 9-11. The time span between it and the 2001 version represents important intelligence reforms as well as a shift from ballistic missile defense to fighting a war on terrorism.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week said the review “may have better informed and assisted the commission in making its final decisions.” About a third of the major base closings proposed by Defense were rejected by the commission. Whether the review would have helped is speculative, but it certainly would have created more confidence and trust in the closure process while providing more insight on which bases should remain.

Getting the order right is a job for Congress. If there is to be another BRAC round, before its deadlines are scheduled, it should take into account something as important and policy changing as the Quadrennial Defense Review. It could reduce a lot of the

arguments affected states just endured.